Abstract
Biomass, as the main contributor to renewable energy in the world (about 13% of total energy consumption), is a versatile energy source—it can be stored and converted in practically any form of energy carrier and also into biochemicals and biomaterials from which, once they have been used, the energy content can be recovered to generate electricity, heat, or transport fuels. It covers a broad range of products, including traditional use of wood for cooking and heating, industrial process heat, co-firing of biomass in coal-based power plants, biogas and biofuels. Moreover, the possibility to use residues and waste as a biomass feedstock enables the production of huge quantities of energy and environmental benefits all over the world, without any fertile land use or any competition with food or feed. Since residues and wastes are part of the short carbon cycle, their use for energy purposes has a minimal extra GHG emission.
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Notes
- 1.
Directive on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, September 2001.
- 2.
COM(2006)848.
- 3.
The European Biomass Association estimates that by 2020 up to 80 million tons of pellets could be used in the EU (33 Mtoe) http://www.aebiom.org/IMG/pdf/Pellet_Roadmap_final.pdf
- 4.
The 6th EAP sets out the framework for environmental policy-making in the EU for the period 2002–2012 and outlines actions that need to be taken to achieve them. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/newprg/intro.htm
- 5.
EU-27: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
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EU-15: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
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Census of energy potential of different types of biomass through the implementation of an interactive software platform, operating in GIS, taking into account logistical, geographical and technical economic aspects which concern the energy from biomass. http://www.atlantebiomasse.enea.it/
- 8.
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Cigolotti, V. (2012). Biomass and Waste as Sustainable Resources. In: Fuel Cells in the Waste-to-Energy Chain. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2369-9_2
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