Biomass Energy Pros and Cons

In the near future biomass and other forms of alternative energy will come into their own as Biomass Energy we deplete the fossil fuel reserves or they become so expensive they cease to exist as a viable fuel source.

Biomass Energy

Biomass fuel is processed from waste material such as saw-dust and chippings from wood to make wood-pellets for biomass heating systems, corn and switch-grass to make ethanol for use as fuel for vehicles.

Biomass Energy can be produced locally at minimum cost which the end user benefits from and also contributes to keeping employment local. Biomass Energy is renewable and does not depend on fossil fuels. The price of fossil fuels has no bearing on the price of biomass and in the past ten years the price has stayed the same which cannot be said for fossil fuels.

As with anything in life there are drawbacks. The biomass may consist of fermented animal waste,
agricultural crops, grains and other natural products. However, using the resulting fuel still produces greenhouse gases; however biomass energy is CO2 neutral, which means the CO2 produced is the amount ingested during the plants life time.

At large plants it’s economically feasible to install technology to recycle and process the wastes,
but there are still doubts about the ecological impact of smaller biomass plants.

It seems all forms of alternative energy have some drawbacks, but they all are better options to replace
our current dependency on coal and oil.