Biomass Energy

Biomass energy: Advantages and disadvantages
Biomass refers to any organic matter used to create energy. This could include everyday animal matter
as well as different crops. It can be burned or turned into liquid for electricity generation. No energy
source is perfect, biomass included. Though it's renewable, there are both benefits and downsides to
generating electricity using biomass energy plants.
There are both pros and cons of using biomass for energy. Here are a few to keep in mind:
Pros and cons of biomass
On the pros side, bioenergy is a widely available, reliable type of renewable energy.
Harvesting biomass for electricity can also help us reduce waste. However, there
are cons to consider: compared to other sources of electricity, biomass can be
expensive to gather, transport, and store. Also, building biomass energy plants for
large-scale electricity production can require much land space. Several
environmental downsides of biomass can vary depending on the type of fuel used
and how it’s collected.
Advantages of biomass
1. Biomass is a renewable resource
Biomass is an abundant resource: organic matter surrounds us, from forests and croplands to waste and
landfills. All biomass initially gets its energy from the sun – thanks to photosynthesis, biomass resources
regrow in a relatively short timespan compared to fossil fuel resources that take hundreds of millions of
years to replenish. As such, we won't run out of biomass for energy production.
2. Biomass helps reduce waste
Landfills have several negative impacts on the environment, including contamination of nearby air, soil,
and water and the emission of greenhouse gases.
Many products in landfills are hazardous and toxic; depending on how these materials are managed,
they can contaminate our land, air, and water, eventually leading to adverse environmental and human
health consequences.
Additionally, landfills significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere. When
organic matter in landfills decomposes, it emits methane–one of the most potent greenhouse gases–and
carbon dioxide and other compounds.
Diverting waste to biomass energy plants instead of landfills not only helps reduce the size of landfills
and alleviates these risks but also takes materials that would otherwise sit around and uses them
productively.
3. Biomass is a reliable source of electricity
Biomass energy plants are often dispatchable, meaning they can easily be turned on or off. This allows
electricity grid operators to use electricity from these plants during times of peak demand.
Bioenergy is not intermittent or variable, unlike other renewable energy sources like solar and wind: the
sun isn't always shining, and the wind isn't always blowing. Without storage technologies, you can't
always use solar or wind energy when you need it. In comparison, while the availability of some biomass
resources may be susceptible to seasonality, biomass energy plants can always turn on to provide
power, regardless of the weather outside.
Disadvantages of biomass
1. Costs
Outside of the upfront costs to get the plants up and running, additional costs are associated with
extracting, transporting, and storing biomass before electricity generation. This is an added cost that
other renewable technologies don't need to account for, as they rely on free, onsite resources (tides,
sunshine, wind, etc.) for fuel.
Costs can vary widely from biomass energy plant to biomass energy plant, and in some cases, bioenergy
has the potential to be cost-competitive with solar and wind. Overall costs largely depend on the type of
biomass and how it's converted to electricity. That said, even though biomass is often more expensive
than alternative renewable energy options, the most expensive types of bioenergy are still on par with
or cheaper than fossil fuels: bioenergy does not require drilling into the earth, which carries a high
capital (and environmental) cost.
2. Space requirements
Biomass energy plants require a lot of space, limiting the areas where you can place a plant. Often,
companies also need to put these plants near their source of biomass to cut down on transportation and
storage costs.
Additional space may also be necessary to grow the organic matter; if power companies are growing
crops or trees for bioenergy rather than using agricultural waste, this contributes to a larger land
footprint per unit of electricity production.
3. Adverse environmental impacts
Like many other forms of energy, producing electricity from biomass can come with several
environmental downsides.
For one, depending on the type of biomass used to generate electricity, unsustainable bioenergy
practices can result in deforestation over time. Companies that clear-cut forests to provide material for
biomass energy plants harm the natural environment and disrupt the habitats of plants and animals in
the process. Clearing plants and organic material from the earth can also impact the surrounding soil's
health, which requires compost and fertilization biomass.
Growing crops for the sole purpose of bioenergy resources also requires a good amount of water: all
plants need water to grow, and continuous irrigation of these resources can make an area more
vulnerable to drought.

Biomass Energy

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Biomass energy: Advantages and disadvantages

Pros and cons of biomass

1. Biomass is a renewable resource

2. Biomass helps reduce waste

3. Biomass is a reliable source of electricity

3. Adverse environmental impacts

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