Economic Questions and Concerns for Biomass Energy

Economic Questions and Concerns for Biomass Energy

Production

Fossils energy sources have become the most used energy supply in the world. The increased awareness of climate change and increase in price of oil has triggered the increase in use of energy such as biomass energy (Khanal, 2008). The production of biomass energy is not something new. All over the world, the anaerobic digestion technique to make biogas out of organic material is applied all over the world. Most developed and technologically advanced countries are producing biomass energy to become less dependent on the use of fossil fuels.

The major economic consideration regarding the production of biomass energy is its low cost of production and its use as a renewable energy source. In many countries, farmers are giving up their occupation of farming because of being unable to yield production from their conventional agricultural production. These wider unused agricultural farms can be used to produce biomass energy on a large scale. It can be generated from the unneeded biomasses which will help in effective utilization of natural resources. The production of biomass energy is also economically feasible because the plants of biogas can reduce the landfill area and protect the quality of groundwater.

Consumption

In 2007, Renewable sources supply constitutes 11% of the global energy demand. Biomass is the largest energy provider contributing a total of 1,150 million tons of oil which translates to a 79% share of the total energy supply sourced out from these renewable sources. In terms of final energy consumption worldwide, biomass ranks fourth with after the 10% share after the non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal with 26%, oil with 34% and natural gas with 22% (Blauvelt, 2007).

Biomass may be used either directly or indirectly. Direct use involves consumption of biomass in cooking and industrial processes. ...