Biomass

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Biomass

• Biomass is anything that is alive or was alive a
  short time ago.

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What is Biomass?
Crops

• Trees

Wood
Garbage
Animal Waste
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Biomass gets its energy from the sun.

• Plants store the suns energy in their leaves
  and roots.

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This process is called Photosynthesis.
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We Use Biomass Every Day

• When we eat biomass, we use the energy to move
  and grow.
• The energy in everything we eat comes from
  plants.

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We Use Biomass Every Day

• When we burn biomass, we use the energy to make
  heat.

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We Use Biomass Every Day

• Biomass can be used to make a gas called
  methane.
• Bacteria feed on dead plants and animals. As the
  plants and animals decay they release methane.

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We Use Biomass Every Day

• ? In China, many farmers use all of their
  garbage, even animal and human waste, to make
  methane.
• ? They put all the waste into a big tank without
  air. It makes methane as it rots.
• ? Farmers use the gas to cook food and light
  their homes.

• The waste that is left
• can be used as fertilizer
• to grow more crops!

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We Use Biomass Every Day

• Methane is the main ingredient in natural gas,
  the gas we use in our stoves and furnaces.

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We Use Biomass Every Day

• We can also add yeast to biomass to produce an
  alcohol called ethanol.
• Ethanol is a fuel a lot like gasoline.

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Ethanol and the Carbon Cycle
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Biomass Can Make Electricity

• Many towns burn their garbage in waste-to-energy
  plants.
• Instead of putting the garbage in landfills,
  they burn it to make electricity. This saves
  landfill space and gives them energy too!

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Use of Biomass in the U.S.

• Until the mid-1800s, wood gave Americans 90 of
  the energy we used.

• Today, biomass gives us only about 3 of the
  energy we use.

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Use of Biomass in the U.S.

• Of all the types of biomass, wood and wood waste
  still make up the largest percentage of biomass
  use.

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Biomass is Renewable

• Biomass is renewable because we can always grow
  more plants!

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Biomass and the Environment

• Biomass can pollute the air when it is burned,
  though not as much as fossil fuels.
• Burning biomass does not produce pollutants like
  sulfur, that can cause acid rain.
• Growing plants for biomass fuel may reduce
  greenhouse gases, since plants use carbon dioxide
  (a greenhouse gas) as they grow.