A lot of people hold out high hopes for biomass as an energy source for the future. There are a lot of reasons for this the main ones being that it is a renewable resource and we wouldn’t be dependent of imports to meet our energy needs. In fact the goal is to actually turn our garbage into a fuel source. There are a number of different ways that this can be done. There are so many options that it has actually slowed down progress because of all the competing technologies. For all the promise that biomass power offers there are some pretty big obstacles that need to be overcome if it is ever to be widely used.

Biomass is basically getting energy out of anything that is or was recently alive. Fossil fuels are excluded from this definition since they were not recently alive. Basically this means getting fuel from plants or from the waste of living things. The most common right now are wood and cow manure. Wood can be burned as an energy source while manure can be turned into methane gas. The goal is that one day we will be able to meet our energy needs by turning sewage and garbage into a source of energy. We can already do this but not at large enough levels or low enough prices to make it a viable option at this time.

There are three ways that you can get power from biomass, the first and most straightforward is to simply burn it. This is commonly done with wood and is currently the largest source of biomass fuel. The second option is through a chemical conversion. This is where the biomass is converted to some other form which can be used as a power source. Turning manure into methane would be an example of this. The third option is a biochemical conversion. This is when living thing can convert biomass into a form of energy. This would include things like producing alcohol through fermentation. It is also possible that some plants could be used to produce electricity directly through a biochemical reaction.

The biggest problem facing the widespread use of biomass is the environmental issue. In a lot of cases the emissions are actually worse than they would be for fossil fuels. Burning wood for example produces large amounts of emissions. As does the use of methane. The main pollutant released with biomass power is carbon dioxide. However the use of biomass may actually solve this problem on its own. Most carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by plants. Since the use of biomass will likely require us to grow more trees and plants to meet our energy needs they would also help to remove the carbon dioxide. There is still a lot of research that needs to be done but there is certainly room for optimism when it comes to biomass power.