Bioenergy is one of the largest renewable sources of energy nowadays, representing 10%

of world’s energy supply. It might serve as a basic energy source for cooking and space heating,
but just with clean fuels and adequate biomass cook stoves, it can have a lower impact on the
environment.

Biomass
Biomass is any organic decomposable matter, derived from plants or animals and it can be
renewed. Woods, wood agricultural crops, herbaceous and woody energy crops can also serve as
biomass, as well as municipal organic wastes, or manure.

The carbon used to construct biomass is absorbed from the atmosphere as carbon dioxide
(CO2) by plant life, using energy from the sun. Plants may subsequently be eaten by animals and
thus converted into animal biomass. However the primary absorption is performed by plants.
If plant material is not eaten it is generally either broken down by micro-organisms or
burned:

 If broken down it releases the carbon back to the atmosphere, mainly as either
carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4), depending upon the conditions and
processes involved.
 If burned the carbon is returned to the atmosphere as CO2

Categories of biomass materials

The realities of the economics mean that high value material for which there is an alternative
market, such as good quality, large timber, are very unlikely to become available for energy
applications. However there are huge resources of residues, co-products and waste that exist in
the which could potentially become available, in quantity, at relatively low cost, or even negative
cost where there is currently a requirement to pay for disposal.

There are five basic categories of material:

 Virgin wood, from forestry, arboricultural activities or from wood processing

 Energy crops: high yield crops grown specifically for energy applications
 Agricultural residues: residues from agriculture harvesting or processing
 Food waste, from food and drink manufacture, preparation and processing, and post-
consumer waste
 Industrial waste and co-products from manufacturing and industrial processes.

Why use biomass fuels?

. Biomass is a renewable, low carbon fuel, Its production and use also brings additional
environmental and social benefits. Correctly managed, biomass is a sustainable fuel that can
deliver a significant reduction in net carbon emissions when compared with fossil fuels.
  Biomass is a “carbon lean” fuel producing a fraction of the Carbon emissions of
fossil fuels.
 It can be sourced locally, on an indefinite basis, contributing to security of supply.
 The establishment of local networks of production and usage, allows financial and
environmental costs of transport to be minimized.
 The use of biomass fuel provides an economic incentive to manage woodland
which improves biodiversity.
 Many biomass fuels generate lower levels of such atmospheric pollutants as sulphur
dioxide, that contributes to 'acid rain'. Modern biomass combustion systems are
highly sophisticated, offering combustion efficiency and emission levels
comparable with the best fossil fuel boilers.
 Biomass residues, arisings, co-products and waste not used for energy, or some
other application will usually rot. This will generate CO2 in any case, and may also
produce methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent that CO2.

EU supporting
Research and Technology Development (RTD) plays a key role in bioenergy and the EU
has supported bioenergy-related RTD under several successive Framework Programmes,
covering the whole chain from feedstock production to end-use.

Since starting in 2007, the current Framework Programme (FP7) has been focussing on
biofuels and renewable electricity production from biomass. The predominance of biofuel
projects was a direct result from the high oil prices during that period. Thus far, more than 20
projects have been supported with around EUR 70 million. International cooperation has become
a central issue with coordinated calls to address certain areas, e.g. power generation with Russia
and biofuels with Latin America. Coordinated and joint calls are used to a much larger extent
than in previous years. Case in point is the joint call "Biorefineries" that was published in 2008
and brought together four different research Areas (Energy, Materials, Environment,
Agriculture). Other priorities of current activities are new feedstocks (aquatic biomass & waste)
and biorefineries.