Advantages of Biomass Energy As you’ll see, the advantages of biomass energy are many. However, remember that reaping these advantages requires appropriate use. Energy policy often can be tainted with political motives, and it’s as true with biomass energy programs as with any other form Still, the advantages are real. Carbon Neutral One of the major advantages of biomass energy is it's small carbon footprint compared to fossil fuel. As long as new plant material is grown to replace that used, biomass energy produces no net CO2 increase. To the extent biopower reduces fossil fuel consumption it reduces CO2 release. One problem keeps this from being as good news as it should be: often fossil fuels are used to harvest and manipulate biomass. For example, loggers use chain saws to fell trees and trucks to transport the lumber, so some fossil fuel is used to produce wood for fuel. Depending on the exact situation, the fossil fuel consumption required for the use of the biofuel offsets or even eliminates any carbon advantage. Because of this, I think using corn to produce ethanol is a particularly poor form of biomass energy. | |
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