Biomass

1. Biomass A renewable source of energy

2. What is Biomass? • Biomass is a renewable source of chemical energy that comes from recently living plants or plant-like organisms that create photosynthesis and thus creates stored energy that we can later release. Our company (BioEcuador) would create a conversion industry in an area that has lost many of its trees and can sustain a regular crop such as corn or sunflowers.

3. History • Before the industrial revolution Biomass was used by the majority of people. The US mainly used biomass in the form of wood until the 1860. Almost 91% of their energy was generated using Biomass. Presently the world’s energy is generated by Fossil Fuels but 14% of the world still uses Biomass.

4. UsedToday • This source is found in Biofuels. This is a type of gasoline that can make cars run by burning it and making a turbine move creating energy that moves the car. Biofuels, Ethanol, Butane, Methanol, can be made up of different elements. Ethanol is made mainly from corn and sugar cane. Methanol, in fact, is made mainly with wood alcohol. Butane is made mainly from various plants.

5. How do we harnessit? • Any plant or even vegetable oil, manure, algae and cooking grease. This can help us get it in an easier way and make it safer for the environment we live in.

6. ReleasingEnergy • Energy from the sun is transmitted in waves to the earth, plants absorb that energy and create photosynthesis this is what creates the chemical energy in plants making it a good stored energy that we can release it. When we burn the biomass it creates steam that can turn turbines.

7. Advantages/Disadvantages • This source is a good way to stop using petroleum for gasoline and is quite easy to create these biofuels. On the other hand it requires a big amount of land to grow the crops needed to create Ethanol, Butane and Methanol, and even after considering this we must put into perspective that Fossil fuels are more efficient than biofuels.

8. Economy • Now that biofuels are less efficient than Fossil fuels we must add that the cost of harvesting the crops to create biofuels and then the transportation also cost a great deal of money.

9. Environment • Creating room to grow crops destroys biodiversity of the area and biofuel does create Co2 even if it is in a smaller amount. From the other side we can see that the crops we plant do produce oxygen and give us air that we need to breathe.

10. FutureProjects • Modern scientists have been trying to create a form of biofuel that uses the non-eatable parts of a plant. This can lessen the effect on the loss of biodiversity because we don’t have to plant crops and we can just use natural plants that grow normally. Another form scientists have been working on is the Algae method. This idea uses a plant-like organism that also does the process of photosynthesis. This form is more efficient because algae grows 30 times faster than normal plants and can speed up production.

11. WorkCited • Walker, Niki. Biomass Fueling Change. New York: Crabtree Companies, 2007. Print.  • "Biomass." N.p., n.d. Web. <http://cr.middlebury.edu/es/altenergylife/sbiomass.htm>. • "Biofuels." N.p., n.d. Web. <• http://www.brainpop.com/technology/energytechnology/biofuels/>. • Biomass." N.p., n.d. Web. <• http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=biomass_home-basics-k.cfm>.