Biomass refers to natural materials that contain stored solar energy, such as wood, straw, manure, garbage, and alcohol fuels. It is located where there are large amounts of trees, crops, animals, and garbage. Biomass can be used on both large and small scales. The most common way to use biomass for energy is to burn it to produce heat. While biomass production results in CO2 emissions, proponents argue the CO2 is recycled by plants. There are concerns that demand could result in deforestation and negative health impacts. Biomass accounts for around 15% of the world's energy supply and is low-cost and indigenous.

1. Biomass
Paige Morris on, Domonique
hns on

2. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF RESOURCE:
What is it?
• Natural materials that contain stored
energy from the sun are Biomass.
• Wood, straw, manure, garbage and
alcohol fuels are all examples of Biomass.
• The plants absorb minerals and nutrients
from sunlight in order to grow into the
necessary materials for biomass.

3. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF RESOURCE:
Location
•Located in places with lots of trees,
animals, crops, and garbage.
•It is found in large densities at most
crop and animal farms and in large
forested areas.

4. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF
RESOURCE:
Scale
• Biomass can be used on both large and small scale
sites.
• Large scale power plants burn Biomass to create
steam to produce energy.
• Home scale wood and pellet stoves have become
increasingly common.

6. • The more
sunlight
there is, the
easier plants
grow – more
biomass.

7. TECHNOLOGY
How does it work?
•The m ost popular way to m ake biom ass into
power is to burn it to prod uce heat because it
is chem ical energy.
•The waste wood , tree branches and other
scraps are gathered together in big trucks.
•The trucks bring the waste from factories and
from farm s to a biom ass power where it is
d um ped into huge hoppers.
• The biom ass is fed into a furnace where it is
burned and the heat prod uced is used to boil
water in the boiler, and the energy in the
steam is used to turn turbines and generators.

8. TECHNOLOGY
Experimental or Mature?
• Biomass technology has been
around for a long time, so it is
mature.
• Bio-fuel technology is still being
developed and is extremely
experimental.

9. USES
Current:
 Stoves produce heat on at home
scale.
 Biomass is used to produce
electricity at a large scale.
 Bio-fuels are produced from plants
for transportation.

11. USE S
Projected:
• Biofuel will become
more available, and
will replace fossil fuels.

12. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
with extracting processes
• At large scale sites,
the burning of
biomass to create
energy makes, CO2
• It is argued that the
CO2 released into
the atmosphere by
power plants is
recycled by plants in
the cycle of
photosynthesis.

13. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
with processing, transporting and using
It is feared that in order to continue
with the production of biomass power
plants, trees and forests will be cut
down in order to fulfill the demand.
The American Heart Association and
the American Lung Association have
called Biomass a danger to public
health due to various issues
including respiratory illnesses and
heart disease.

14. ECONOMIC ISSUES:
competition with other energy resources
• It accounts for almost 15%
of the world's total energy
supply and as much as
35% in developing
countries, mostly for
cooking and heating.
• It is a widely utilized
source of energy due to its
low cost and indigenous
nature

15. ECONOMIC ISSUES :
How costs might change in the
future
• Right now the cost of Biomass is extremely
low because it easy to find.
• Biomass is produced naturally so the
prices will not likely go up.
• Bio-fuel prices will go down as it becomes
easier to produce.

16. Multiple-choice question #1
Which resource is not bio mass?
b.Animal Manure
c. Garbage
d.Corn
e.Uranium

17. Multiple-choice question #2
About how much of the world’s energy supply
does biomass account for?
a. 13%
b. 15%
c. 7%
d. 35%

18. Multiple-choice question #3
What type of energy is Biomass?
a. Electromagnetic
b. Kinetic
c. Chemical
d. Thermal

19. Multiple-choice question #4
Why is Biomass widely utilized as an energy
source?
a. Because it has a low cost.
b. Because people like to see deforestation.
c. Because it produces no CO2
d. It can be converted to electricity effortlessly.

20. Credits
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technologies/
how-biomass-energy-works.html#converting_biomass
http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/biomass.htm
http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/08/18/is-biomass-really-renewable/