BIOMASS ENERGY

  Origin: biomass is organic material made from plants and animals. Biomass contains stored energy from the sun. Plants absorb the sun's energy in a process called photosynthesis. The chemical energy in plants gets passed on to animals and people that eat them. Biomass is a renewable energy source because the waste will always exist. Some examples of biomass fuels are wood, crops, manure, and some garbage.

 Extraction: when burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as heat. Wood waste or garbage can be burned to produce steam for making electricity.

  Utilities: burning biomass is not the only way to release its energy. Biomass can be converted to other usable forms of energy like methane gas or transportation fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Crops like corn and sugar cane can be fermented to produce the transportation fuel, ethanol.

In waste-to-energy plants, trash is burned to produce steam that can be used either to heat buildings or to generate electricity.

Producer regions:  the most important producers of biomass energy are United States, Finland, Japan and Canada.