Biomass–Biofuels and Sustainable Approach

Abstract

Although biomass-produced energy is a major step toward the limitation of fossil fuel use and the subsequent environmental impact, it does not automatically imply that it falls under the category of sustainable approaches. Since it is already used as food and industrial raw material, using biomass as an energy source should meet the criteria of sustainability. In order to evaluate the biomass projects from a sustainability point of view, apart from environmental aspects, economic, social, cultural, and health aspects have to be examined as well. A major environmental condition to be met is the carbon balance over life cycle. The biomass chain could be characterized by carbon negative balance (net removal of CO₂eq. from the atmosphere) as well as carbon positive balances (net addition of CO₂eq.). These are determined by field practices, transport, and processing technologies [1].