| BioEnergy offered as one of the renewable energy resources |
BioEnergy offered as one of the renewable energy resourcesThe 2003 White Paper of the International Solar Energy Society offers BioEnergy as one of the renewable energy sources to supplement world electric energy production.BioEnergy is derived by harnessing the energy flows gathered by nature's solar collectors. It is this natural storage capacity of organic life that differentiates BioEnergy from other types of renewable energy.  About 11 % of world primary
energy use at present is derived from BioEnergy, the only carbon neutral
combustible carbon resource, but that is only 18 % of today’s estimated
BioEnergy potential. Estimates for world BioEnergy potential in 2050 average
about 450 EJ, which is more than the present total world primary energy demand.
Fuel “costs” for the conventional resources become instead rural economic
benefits with BioEnergy, producing hundreds of thousands of new jobs and new
industries. The sources of biomass material
for BioEnergy conversion are from wood or forest residues, agricultural crop
residues, energy crops from surplus cropland or from degraded land, and waste
from animals or humans, including the uniquely human energy resource of
municipal solid waste. Ethanol fuels are produced from biomass such as sugar
cane and corn.While BioEnergy has remained critically important to the life support systems of developing nations, and continues in that importance today, in the industrial nations BioEnergy as a percentage of national primary energy has actually reduced significantly since the 1800s. For example, 85 % of the primary energy of the United States came from BioEnergy in 1860, a figure that had been reduced to 2.5 % by 1973. In 1860 the dominant energy resource for residential use and industrial development of the United States was fuel wood, but by about 1910 it had been supplanted by coal, and later by the addition also of oil and gas. BioEnergy faded from our industrial economies for a time, but it is starting an extremely important resurgence, for a variety of reasons all relevant to the economic development and environmental protection of industrial nations. ISES Whitepaper, Transitioning to a Renewable Energy Future is copyright protected by ISES & Dr. Donald W. Aitken 2003. All rights reserved by ISES and the author. ISES has been serving the needs of the renewable energy community since its founding in 1954. A UN-accredited NGO present in more than 50 countries, the Society supports its members in the advancement of renewable energy technology, implementation and education all over the world. Visit ISES for more information. |
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