What is one advantage of using biomass as a source of energy?

1 Answer
Dec 5, 2017

Unlike fossil fuels (such as oil, gas, or coal), biomass is renewable.

Explanation:

"Biomass" refers to organic matter such as plants.

Biomass is always available. We can grow as much as we want.

So biomass is considered a renewable source of energy, unlike fossil fuels (which are gone for good once we use them up.)

There are some additional advantages:

1) Even though biomass does release carbon dioxide when it is burned (just like fossil fuels do), at least biomass absorbs the CO₂ back again when it grows the next year.

That means that there is no net gain of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

2) By converting agricultural waste into fuel, the value of the harvest can be increased.
Instead of discarding unused plant material (such as stems and leaves), the farmer can sell that too as a secondary crop -- in addition to the food.

3) Burning biomass means that there is less material going into landfills

4) Using biomass reduces our dependence on foreign fuels, and reduces the amount of money spent on importing foreign fuels.
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There are also disadvantages to using biomass as energy.

1) The incineration of wastes and biomass produces air pollution, which may be significant -- and much worse than the other renewables such as solar, wind, or water, which are clean.

2) Using land to grow energy crops may crowd out food crops, or raise the cost of the land used to grow food.

3) Using land for energy crops produces monocultures and vastly reduces habitat for other species in the ecosystem.
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You can read more about the advantages and disadvantages here.
http://www.bioenergy.org/information/advantages-disadvantages-biomass/