Energy Management NOTES G.

Komen

ENERGY USES • The industrial sector includes facilities and equipment used
for manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and construction.
 People use a lot of energy in homes, in businesses, and in
industry. • Total amount of energy required in a country’s industrial
 Also energy is used for personal travel and for transporting sector depends on industrial processes in use.
goods. The energy consuming sectors are discussed below: • Many countries use inefficient processes and could reduce
 Industrialized nations use energy for: energy consumption by converting to more efficient means.
– Residential / Commercial uses – Need capital investments.
– Many LDC’s don’t have the necessary capital.
– Industrial uses
The industrial sector uses energy in many ways.
– Transportation
One major application involves raising the temperature of
• Developing countries use much of their energy to develop components in the manufacturing process, which is called process
industry. heating. Refining crude oil, where heat is used to separate various
distillates, is an example of this.
Another common use of energy in industry is to heat a boiler that
Residential and Commercial Energy Use
generates steam or hot water.
• The residential sector includes homes and apartments.
Industry and manufacturing rely heavily on natural gas, petroleum
• The commercial sector includes offices, malls, stores, and other liquids, electricity, coal, renewables, and biofuels.
schools, hospitals, hotels, warehouses, restaurants, and
places of worship and public assembly.
Transportation Energy Uses
• We use energy in homes and commercial buildings in
similar ways. We keep rooms at a comfortable temperature, • The transportation sector includes vehicles that transport
illuminate our spaces, heat water for bathing and laundry, people or goods, such as cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles,
and depend on computers, copiers, appliances, and other trains, aircraft, boats, barges, and ships.
technologies
• Transportation is one hundred percent dependent on energy.
Over seventy percent of petroleum used goes into the
transport sector.
Industrial Energy Use

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• The transportation sector can be very vital in the overall • Post-harvest energy use includes energy for food processing,
quest for energy conservation. Innovations such as the storage and in transport to markets.
introduction of more fuel efficient vehicles and development • In addition, there are many indirect or sequestered energy
of alternative sources of energy for our transport system can inputs used in agriculture in the form of mineral fertilizers
greatly help in the saving of energy and chemical pesticides, insecticides and herbicides.
• Whilst industrialized countries have benefited from these
• Efforts at energy conservation can be made on a global scale
advances in energy availability for agriculture, developing
if we factor in the uses and deal with them one by one. If we
countries have not been so fortunate. "Energizing" the food
focus on them as individual uses rather than trying to find a
production chain has been an essential feature of agricultural
solution as a whole, we will make much bigger strides in
development throughout recent history and is a prime factor
conservation.
in helping to achieve food security.
• Per capita energy use for transportation is high in developing • Developing countries have lagged behind industrialized
countries and highest in highly developed countries. countries in modernizing their energy inputs to agriculture.

• Mass Transit systems are most efficient in countries with a

dense population.
Energy conversion
• Most of these countries heavily tax fuel, increasing the
appeal of mass transit.  Energy conversion, also termed energy transformation, is the
process of changing energy from one of its forms into
Agricultural energy uses
another.
• Agriculture is itself an energy conversion process, namely  According to the law of conservation of energy, energy is
the conversion of solar energy through photosynthesis to transferable to a different location or object, but it cannot be
food energy for humans and feed for animals. created or destroyed.
• Primitive agriculture involved little more than scattering  Energy in many of its forms may be used in natural
seeds on the land and accepting the scanty yields that processes, or to provide some service to society such as
resulted. heating, refrigeration, lighting or performing mechanical
• Modern agriculture requires an energy input at all stages of work to operate machines. For example, in order to heat your
agricultural production such as direct use of energy in farm home, your furnace can burn fuel, whose chemical potential
machinery, water management, irrigation, cultivation and energy is thus converted into thermal energy, which is then
harvesting. transferred to your home's air in order to raise its
temperature.

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 In another example, an internal combustion engine burns The primary objective of energy management is to maximize profit
gasoline to create pressure that pushes the pistons, thus and minimize costs by optimizing energy procurement and
performing work in order to accelerate your vehicle, utilization, throughout the organization to minimize energy costs
ultimately converting the fuel's chemical energy to your without affecting production and quality and to minimize
vehicle's additional kinetic energy corresponding to its environmental effects.
increase in speed.
Among the practices that arise from the above definition we have
the following:
 Eliminate Waste: Ensure that energy is used at the highest
possible efficiency.
 Maximize Efficiency: Utilize the most appropriate
ENERGY MANAGEMENT: technology to meet organizational needs.
 Optimize Supply: Purchase or supply energy at the lowest
An Overview possible cost.
Energy is an integral part of today’s modern life. It has become the Energy management practices may vary from simple maintenance
blood of our day to day life. But it is not free. It comes at a monetary and operational activities that ensure equipment and systems use
price and at environment cost too. energy efficiently and effectively, to capital intensive installation of
It is very difficult to think about our modern life without energy. new, more efficient technology.

The generation of energy requires natural resources which are

depleting day by day. On the other side, use of energy is increasing Motivation to energy management
exponentially.
There are many motivational forces for energy management
Considering potential for energy savings especially in industries, presently acting on the industrial sector. They include:
fast depleting energy resources and the harmful effects of energy
consumption on environment there is need for energy efficient a. Competitiveness:
measures.
Although energy cost may constitute a relatively small part of total
Definition of energy management operating cost, for many industries, it is one of the most manageable
resources among labor and material.
It is the judicious and effective use of energy to maximize profits
(that is, minimize costs) and enhance competitive positions.

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Reductions in energy consumption and thereby reducing energy cost reduced consumption from conventional energy sources. It can
are very vital for any industry to remain competitive. result in increased financial capital, environmental quality, national
security, personal security, and human comfort.
b. Short Falls in power supplies:
Individuals and organizations that are direct consumers of energy
Due to limitations in power supply infrastructures, many industries
choose to conserve energy to reduce energy costs and promote
face power supply problems in terms of reliability and quality of the
economic security. Industrial and commercial users can increase
power supply and increasing energy demand and industrialization
energy use efficiency to maximize profit.
have led to predictions of a serious supply shortfall.
In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are
c. Environmental Management Systems
made to collect, store, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat
In certain parts of the world, especially in Europe, ISO 14001 in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. It is called passive
standard on environmental management is increasingly becoming a solar design or climatic design because, unlike active solar heating
requirement for trade. Energy management is an important systems, it doesn't involve the use of mechanical and electrical
component of environmental management and waste reduction devices.
strategies, and features significantly in ISO 14001.
d. Global Climate Change:
Purposes of Energy Conservation
The global climate is changing because of human activity, and that
There significant goals to implement energy conservation are as
one of the major causes of climate change is the emission of
outlined below.
Greenhouse Gases (GHG), principally CO2, into the atmosphere
from the combustion of fossil fuels. Since fossil fuels, directly or (1) Reduction of energy consumption and enhancing energy
indirectly, are important energy sources to industry, there is security
international pressure to reduce GHG emissions by reducing energy (2) Reduction of greenhouse gases (CO2)
consumption. (3) Reduction of energy costs.

Energy conservation i) Energy Security

Energy conservation refers to efforts made to reduce energy Energy security is to ensure a constant and stable supply of energy.
consumption. It can be achieved through increased efficient energy In order to maintain the supply, it is necessary for countries to
use, in conjunction with decreased energy consumption and/or increase the domestic energy self-sufficiency ratio and to undertake

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diplomatic endeavors to secure stable energy suppliers. In order to Income increase by reducing costs for energy utilities is a direct
increase the energy self-sufficiency ratio, it is necessary to develop purpose and incentive of energy conservation.
and promote the use of domestic untapped energy such as nuclear,
Through the implementation of energy conservation, we can reduce
wind and solar energy, and to enhance effective utilization of
the expenses for wasteful energy consumption, and income will
existing energies (energy conservation).
increase equivalent to the amount of the reduction.
Energy conservation contributes to solution to the global issues such
Through energy conservation, payments for the utility of electricity
as energy security and possible future exhaustion of oil.
and gas will decrease and these savings will be utilized for other
ii) Measures of the Global Environment expenditures at the household level.
Global warming has been one of the globally concerned issues. At the business and factory levels, the decrease of energy
International frameworks to deal with such issue have been consumption per unit of production (cost reduction of production)
established. Under this circumstance, concrete measures are will enhance their competitiveness. Increasing income and
required these days to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, with enhancing business competitiveness at the national level contribute
efforts by governments and private sectors. Since energy to economic growth.
conservation limits greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, in particular),
which lead to global warming, the measures for energy conservation
functions as those for elimination of greenhouse gas emissions. ENERGY AUDIT
Energy conservation was conventionally implemented for the An energy audit is an inspection, survey and analysis of energy
purpose of raising income and ensuring energy security in many flows for energy conservation in a building, process or system to
cases. However, in recent years, the effect of CO2 reduction has reduce the amount of energy input into the system without
been receiving attention, and in many cases, energy conservation negatively affecting the output(s).
has been implemented for preventing global warming.
a) Types of energy audit
Additionally, the restriction on the use of oil and natural gas through
energy conservation contributes not only to global warming, but also According to the level of detail and depth of analysis energy audit
to air pollution and environmental destruction due to earth can be classified into;
excavation. i) Preliminary
ii) Targeted
iii) Comprehensive
iii) Income Increase

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i) Preliminary audit. iii) Comprehensive energy audit

This is concerned with; This type is similar to preliminary audits but in far more detailed.
• How much energy is being consumed?  Detailed data on energy flows into and within organisation or
facility
• What type of energy?
- Often requires use of sub-metering to accurately determine
• Performance of facility compared with similar facilities component energy flows
- Or estimate energy use
• Characteristic performance of building
- (Plant power output (kWh)/efficiency of plant) *operating
• Identification of potential areas of energy saving hours per year
- Use of thermal imaging
The main steps for this type of audit are; - May use complex energy simulation software
• Collect data  Detailed energy survey
 Energy project implementation plans
– Establish quantity and cost of each form of energy
– Data from energy invoices and meters for previous year b) Energy auditing services
• Analyze data An energy audit consists of a detailed examination of how a facility
uses energy, what the facility pays for that energy, and finally, a
• Present data
recommended program for changes in operating practices or energy-
• Establish priorities consuming equipment that will cost-effectively save expenses on
energy bills.
• Make recommendations
The energy audit is sometimes called an energy survey or an energy
ii) Targeted energy audit analysis.
• Provide data and analysis on specific targeted projects e.g. Energy audits are performed by several different groups e.g.
heating of one building or lighting
• Can be undertaken internally by the energy manager
• Detailed survey of target area
• Specialist energy consultants
• Analysis of energy flows and costs
• Energy service companies
• Recommendations for action

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A utility’s residential energy auditors analyze the monthly bills, iv) These ECO’s are assessed in terms of their costs and benefits,
inspect the construction of the dwelling unit, and inspect all of the and an economic comparison is made to rank the various
energy-consuming appliances in a house or an apartment. Ceiling ECO’s.
and wall insulation is measured, ducts are inspected, appliances such v) Finally, an Action Plan is created where certain ECO’s are
as heaters, air conditioners, water heaters, refrigerators, and freezers selected for implementation, and the actual process of saving
are examined, and the lighting system is checked. energy and saving money begins.
Some utilities also perform audits for their industrial and
commercial customers. They have professional engineers on their d) Energy Audit Report Format
staff to perform the detailed audits needed by companies with
i) Executive Summary
complex process equipment and operations.
A brief summary of the recommendations and cost savings
Large commercial or industrial customers may hire an engineering
consulting firm to perform a complete energy audit. ii) Table of Contents
iii) Introduction
Other companies may elect to hire an energy manager or set up an
energy management team whose job is to conduct periodic audits Purpose of the energy audit
and to keep up with the available energy efficiency technology.
Need for a continuing energy cost control program
c) Basic components of an energy audit
iv) Facility Description
An initial summary of the basic steps involved in conducting a
successful industrial or large-scale commercial energy audit Product or service, and materials flow
involves: Size, construction, facility layout, and hours of operation
i) The audit process starts by collecting information about a Equipment list, with specifications
facility’s operation and about its past record of utility bills.
ii) This data is then analyzed to get a picture of how the facility v) Energy Bill Analysis
uses and possibly wastes energy, as well as to help the auditor Utility rate structures
learn what areas to examine to reduce energy costs.
iii) Specific changes called Energy Conservation Opportunities Tables and graphs of energy consumptions and costs
(ECOs) are identified and evaluated to determine their benefits Discussion of energy costs and energy bills
and their cost-effectiveness.

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vi) Energy Conservation Opportunities such as determining the length of a pipe for transferring waste heat
from one piece of equipment to the other.
Listing of potential ECO’s
Lightmeter: Used to measure illumination levels in facilities. Many
Cost and savings analysis
areas in buildings and plants are still significantly over lighted, and
Economic evaluation measuring this excess illumination then allows the auditor to
recommend a reduction in lighting levels through lamp removal
vii) Action Plan programs or by replacing inefficient lamps with high efficiency
Recommended ECO’s and an implementation schedule lamps that may not supply the same amount of illumination as the
old inefficient lamps.
Designation of an energy monitor and ongoing program
Thermometers: Several thermometers are generally needed to
viii) Conclusion measure temperatures in offices and other worker areas, and to
Additional comments not otherwise covered measure the temperature of operating equipment. Knowing process
temperatures allows the auditor to determine process equipment
efficiencies, and also to identify waste heat sources for potential heat
e) The Auditor’s Toolbox recovery programs.

To obtain the best information for a successful energy cost control Voltmeter: An inexpensive voltmeter is useful for determining
program, the auditor must make some measurements during the operating voltages on electrical equipment, and especially useful
audit visit. when the nameplate has worn off of a piece of equipment or is
otherwise unreadable or missing.
The amount of equipment needed depends on the type of energy-
consuming equipment used at the facility, and on the range of Wattmeter/Power Factor Meter: A portable hand-held wattmeter
potential ECO’s that might be considered. and power factor meter is very handy for determining the power
consumption and power factor of individual motors and other
For example, if waste heat recovery is being considered, then the inductive devices.
auditor must take substantial temperature measurement data from
potential heat sources. Tools commonly needed for energy audits Combustion Analyzer: Combustion analyzers are portable devices
are listed below: capable of estimating the combustion efficiency of furnaces, boilers,
or other fossil fuel burning machines.
Tape Measures: used to check the dimensions of walls, ceilings,
windows and distances between pieces of equipment for purposes Airflow Measurement Devices: Measuring air flow from heating,
air conditioning or ventilating ducts, or from other sources of air

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flow is one of the energy auditor’s tasks. Airflow measurement IMPACTS OF ENERGY SOURCES
devices can be used to identify problems with air flows, such as
whether the combustion air flow into a gas heater is correct. Typical Energy can be obtained from several sources, such as natural gas,
airflow measuring devices include a velometer, an anemometer, or coal, oil, nuclear energy, hydropower, solar power, geothermal
an airflow hood. sources, biomass, and wind.
Although each of these represents a valuable resource in which to
provide the energy critical to a functioning society, they have
Safety Equipment various environmental, social and economic impacts associated with
The use of safety equipment is a vital precaution for any energy them.
auditor. A good pair of safety glasses is an absolute necessity for Some of the social and economic benefits associated with energy
almost any audit visit. Hearing protectors may also be required on sources include:
audit visits to noisy plants or areas with high horsepower motors
driving fans and pumps. Electrical insulated gloves should be used (i) improved health
if electrical measurements will be taken, and asbestos gloves should (ii) consumer choice
be used for working around boilers and heaters. Breathing masks
may also be needed when hazardous fumes are present from (iii) work opportunities
processes or materials used. Steel-toe and steel-shank safety shoes (iv) technological advances
may be needed on audits of plants where heavy materials, hot or
sharp materials or hazardous materials are being used. The various impacts associated with each source are as follows:
Natural Gas
 At the power plant, the burning of natural gas produces
nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide (but in lower quantities
than burning coal or oil). Methane may be emitted into the
air when natural gas is not completely burned.
 The burning of natural gas in combustion turbines requires
very little water, but natural gas-fired boiler and combined
cycle systems do require water for cooling purposes.

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 One disadvantage of this is that when power plants remove large quantities of water for producing steam and for
water from a lake or river, fish and other aquatic life can be cooling.
harmed or killed.
 When coal-fired power plants remove water from a lake or
 In addition, heat and pollutants build up in the water used in river, fish and other aquatic life can be affected, as well as
natural gas boilers and combined cycle systems. When the animals and people that depend on these aquatic resources.
pollutants and heat reach certain levels, the water is often
 Pollutants also build up in the water used in the power plant
discharged into lakes or rivers.
boiler and cooling system. If the water used in the power
 The use of natural gas to create electricity does not produce plant is discharged to a lake or river, the pollutants in the
substantial amounts of solid waste. water can also harm fish and plants.

 However, extraction of natural gas and the construction of  In addition, if rain falls on coal stored in piles outside the
power plants can destroy natural habitat for animals and power plant, the water that runs off these piles can flush
plants. Possible land resource impacts include erosion, loss heavy metals from the coal, such as arsenic and lead, into
of soil productivity, and landslides. nearby bodies of water, which also threatens wildlife and the
environment.
Coal
 Coal mining can also contaminate bodies of water with
 When coal is burned, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide,
heavy metals when the water used to clean the coal is
nitrogen oxides, and mercury compounds are released. For discharged back into the environment.
that reason, coal-fired boilers are required to have control
devices to reduce the emissions that are released.  When coal is burned, it creates solid waste called ash, which
is composed primarily of metal oxides and alkali. Coal can
 In addition, the processes of mining, cleaning, and contain up to 10% ash.
transporting coal to the power plant generates additional
emissions.  Solid waste is also created at coal mines when coal is cleaned
and at power plants when air pollutants are removed from
 Methane that is trapped in the coal is often vented during the stack gas. The majority of this waste is still deposited in
these processes to protect workers in the coal industry from landfills and abandoned mines, although practices have now
inhaling the hazardous gas.
been put in place to recycle them into useful products, such
 Large quantities of water are needed to remove impurities as cement and building materials. As people become more
from coal when it is mined. Also, coal-fired power plants use

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environmentally aware, this trend will lessen the  The drilling of oil requires water to remove obstructions
environmental impacts generated from the use of coal. from the well. Refineries release treated wastewater, which
can contain pollutants, into streams and other bodies of
 Soil at coal-fired power plants can also become
water. The waste water can also be hotter than the lakes and
contaminated with various pollutants from the coal and take
streams where it is emitted, thereby harming the fish and
a long time to recover, even after the power plant closes
plants that live there.
down.
 Drilling can also cause underground water supplies to
 Coal mining and processing also impacts the land. Surface
become contaminated with oil. Oil refining produces
mining disturbs larger areas than underground mining and
wastewater sludge and other solid waste that can contain
can create eyesores for people living nearby.
high levels of metals and toxic compounds.
 When oil is burned at power plants, residues that are not
Oil completely burned can accumulate, forming yet another
source of solid waste that must be disposed of.
 Burning oil at power plants produces several emissions, such
as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, methane,  The construction of large oil-fired power plants can also
and mercury compounds. destroy plant and animal habitat.

 The amounts can vary depending on the sulfur and mercury  When oil spills occur on land, soils are also harmed and
content of the oil that is burned. processes to clean them up can take many years.

 Emissions from natural gas or diesel are also produced by

the equipment that is used in the oil drilling, production, and
Nuclear Energy
transportation of oil resources.
 Nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide, sulfur
 Oil-fired power plants use large quantities of water for steam
dioxide, or nitrogen oxides.
production and cooling.
 However, fossil fuel emissions are associated with the
 Like other forms of energy, when oil-fired power plants
uranium mining and uranium enrichment process as well as
remove water from a lake or river, fish and other aquatic life
the transportation of the uranium fuel to the nuclear power
can be harmed or killed.
plant, so the emissions and impacts that apply to burning
fossil fuels also indirectly affect the use of nuclear energy.

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 Nuclear power plants use large quantities of water for steam nuclear energy has been a highly controversial subject for
production and cooling. When nuclear power plants remove many years.
water from a lake or river for steam production and cooling,
 The processing of uranium also produces radioactive wastes
fish and other aquatic life can be adversely affected in the
that must be adequately stored and isolated to minimize the
same way that other energy resources impact water bodies.
risk of radioactive release.
Water pollutants, such as heavy metals and salts, build up in
the water used in the nuclear power plant systems. These  The construction of nuclear power plants can destroy natural
pollutants also negatively impact water quality and aquatic habitat for animals and plants or contaminate land with toxic
life. by-products.
 Although the nuclear reactor is radioactive, the water  Another drawback is that the storage of radioactive waste
discharged from the power plant is not, because it never may also keep future re-use of the land from being possible,
comes in contact with any of the radioactive materials. due to potential health risks.
However, waste generated from uranium mining operations
and rainwater runoff can contaminate both ground water and
surface water resources with heavy metals and traces of Hydropower
radioactive uranium.
 Hydropower’s air emissions are negligible because no fuels
 Nuclear power plants must be shut down every year and a are burned in the production of electricity.
half to two years in order to remove and replace the “spent”
uranium fuel.  However, if a large amount of vegetation is growing along
the riverbed when a dam is built, it can decay in the lake that
 This spent fuel has released most of its energy as a result of is created, causing the buildup and release of methane.
the fission process and has become radioactive waste.
 Hydropower often requires the use of dams, which can
 In addition to the fuel waste, much of the equipment in the greatly affect the flow of rivers, thereby altering ecosystems
nuclear power plants becomes contaminated with radiation and affecting the wildlife and people who depend on those
and will become radioactive waste after the plant is closed. waters. Often, water at the bottom of the lake created by a
These wastes have extremely long half-lives (the time dam is inhospitable to fish because it is much colder and
required for one-half the atoms of a given amount of a oxygen-poor compared with water at the top. When this
radioactive substance to decay) and will remain radioactive colder, oxygen-poor water is released into the river, it can
for many thousands of years. For this reason, the use of

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kill fish living downstream that are accustomed to warmer, Solar Energy
oxygen-rich water.
 The environmental impacts of solar energy are minimal. Air
 Eroded material from upstream sources also collects in emissions associated with generating electricity from solar
dams, and over time, they become filled with huge deposits technologies are negligible because no fuels are burned.
of silt that must be dredged.
 Water may be used in solar-thermal technologies to create
 Nutrients and stream load (sediments) necessary for the steam, but the water can be re-used after it has been
health and balance of the waterway, which would have condensed from steam back into water.
naturally been carried down river, become trapped in the
reservoir behind the dam. This can have negative effects.  Solar-thermal technologies do not produce any substantial
amount of solid waste while creating electricity, either.
 For example, sediment-starved water exiting the dam has a
 The biggest impact from thermal-solar power production is
higher potential to cause erosion and other damage
that they require a significant amount of land. Although solar
downstream, upsetting delicate ecological balances. In
energy installations do not damage the land, they do prevent
addition, some dams withhold water and then release it all at
it from being used for other purposes.
once, causing the river downstream to suddenly flood. This
action can disrupt plant and wildlife habitats and affect
drinking water supplies.
Geothermal
 The construction of hydropower plants can alter sizable
portions of land when dams are constructed and lakes are  Air emissions generated from geothermal technologies are
created, flooding land that may have once served as wildlife negligible because no fuels are combusted in this process.
habitat, farmland, and scenic retreat.  Geothermal power plants usually re-inject the hot water that
 For example, many beautiful waterways, once enjoyed for they remove from the ground back into wells.
rafting and other recreational activities, are destroyed when  However, geothermal power plants can possibly cause
reservoirs take their place. groundwater contamination when drilling wells and
 Hydroelectric dams can cause erosion along the riverbed extracting hot water or steam. This type of contamination
upstream and downstream, which can further disturb wildlife can be prevented with proper management techniques.
ecosystems and fish populations.  Geothermal technologies do not produce a substantial
amount of solid waste while creating electricity. Geothermal

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power plants typically require the use of less land than fossil  Similar to fossil fuel power plants, biomass power plants
fuel power plants. However, if water is not reinjected into have pollutants that build up in the water used in the boiler
the ground after use to maintain pressure underground, it and cooling system.
may cause sinking of land at the surface.
 The water used for cooling is much warmer when it is
returned to the lake or river than it was when removed.
Similar to other energy processing technologies, pollutants
Biomass
in the water and the water’s higher temperature can harm fish
 Biomass energy sources include trees, organic garbage, and plants in the lake or river.
agricultural waste, fuel crops, garden waste, sewage sludge,
 The burning of biomass in boilers creates ash that must be
manure, cornhusks, rice hulls, peanut shells, grass clippings,
disposed of properly, but fortunately, it normally contains
leaves, and other organic materials.
extremely low levels of hazardous elements. Generating
 Biomass power plants emit nitrogen oxides and a small electricity from biomass can affect land resources in
amount of sulfur dioxide. The amounts emitted depend on different ways.
the type of biomass that is burned and the type of generator
 For example, some biomass power plants require large areas
that is used. Although the burning of biomass also produces
of land for equipment and fuel storage.
carbon dioxide—the primary greenhouse gas—as an
emission, similar to the burning of MSW, it is considered to  Biomass grown for fuel purposes requires large areas of land
be part of the natural carbon cycle of the Earth. (The carbon and, over time, can deplete the soil of nutrients. Fuel crops
dioxide released equals the initial amount of carbon dioxide must be managed so that they stabilize the soil, reduce
absorbed while the biomass was alive.) erosion, provide wildlife habitat, and serve recreational
purposes.
 Biomass contains much less sulfur and nitrogen than coal;
therefore, when biomass is co-fired with coal, sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen oxide emissions are lower than when coal is
burned alone, presenting a more environmentally sound Wind
method of energy production.  Air emissions associated with generating electricity from
 Biomass power plants require the use of water, because the wind technology are negligible because no fuels are
boilers burning the biomass need water for steam production combusted.
and for cooling. If this water is used over and over again, the
amount of water needed is reduced.

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 Wind turbines in areas with little rainfall may require the use
of a small amount of water in order to clean dirt and insects
off the turbine blades so that they do not hamper turbine
performance. Wind technologies also do not produce any
substantial amount of solid waste while creating electricity.
 Wind turbines generally require the use of land, although
they may also be sited offshore. In fact, current technology
is developing ways to put large wind farms in ocean coastal
areas.
 Land around wind turbines can be used for other purposes,
such as the grazing of cattle or farming.
 Large wind farms cause aesthetic concerns because some
people do not like looking at them. Noise from the turbines
can also be an issue, but new blade designs are being
developed to reduce the amount of noise that is currently
generated. Bird and bat mortality has been an issue at some
wind farms. Improvements to wind turbine technologies
have helped with this problem. Improperly installed wind
farms may create soil erosion problems.

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