Biomass

All organic matter is known as biomass. The wide variety of biomass fuel sources includes agricultural residue, pulp/paper mill residue, urban wood waste, forest residue, energy crops, landfill methane, and animal waste. What would normally present a disposal problem is converted into energy. The energy, in the form of electricity, heat, steam, and fuels, can be derived from these sources through conversion methods such as direct combustion boiler and steam turbines, anaerobic digestion, co-firing, gasification, and pyrolysis. The co-firing method mixes biomass with coal, and may be the best near-term economic opportunity for biomass, particularly in combined heat and power applications, which make the most efficient use of biomass.

Another widely available fuel source is the biomass from corn; this can be fermented into alcohol (ethanol) and the alcohol is used to replace automobile fuel (by blending with petrol). Brazil was one of the early leaders in this technology, following the oil shocks.

Biomass is now becoming a competitive source of energy, especially the co-firing technology. However, this is limited by distance to the generator from the available supply (roughly 50 kilometres, as distance increases costs).

With an estimated 14,000 MW of world-wide installed generation capacity, biomass power is the largest source of non-hydro renewable electricity in the world. The U.S. is the largest biomass energy generator (7,000 MW). The continued need for on-site industrial power, waste reduction, stricter environmental regulations, and rising consumer demand for renewable energy will provide the main impetus for the industry's growth, especially in industrialised countries. World-wide biomass energy generation is expected to grow to more than 30,000 MW by 2020.