In our obscurity, in this vastness there is no hint that help will

come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

ITS UP TO US

CARL SAGAN
Few days back, the 2016 Billion-Ton Report, jointly
released by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), concludes that
the US has the potential to sustainably produce at
least 1 billion dry tons (approx. 907 million metric
tonnes) of non-food biomass resources annually by
2040.
In another report, researchers at the University of
Georgia have crossed American sweetgum tree with
its Chinese cousin, creating hybrid sweetgum trees
that have a potential to boost bioenergy production.
The hybrid sweetgum trees have enormous potential
for the production of bioenergy and paper, said Scott
Merkle, a professor in UGA's Warnell School of
Forestry and Natural Resources.
One might wonder, why an overdeveloped nation like
US is eyeing on such a source of energy when there
are already plentiful future source through which
energy can be harvested.
Future will come with myriad of possibilities of human
intervention in nature and environment that will
handle the parallel coming crisis like energy scarcity
when coal, fossil fuels and other conventional
resources go obsolete. This appalling era will be

waiting for mankind to develop such technologies that

harness abundant available resource for the
production of energy in efficient and cost effective
fashion.
Biomass a natures asset encompassing forestry,
vegetables, agricultural crops (vegetable crops, oil
crops), wastes, etc. is one of the unique potent
renewable source of energy along with solar,
geothermal, wind and so on that can serve humans
future needs.
So how these feedstock can turn the things positive?
Lets see. Today energy generated by biomass
exploitation, i.e. bioenergy is 10% of the total energy
mix produced and chiefly used for cooking and
heating purpose. Globally the total estimated
production of this form of energy is 50 EJ (1018 J) and
is foresighted to rise to 1500- 2000 EJ till 2050. This
increase will be the outcome of elevation in the
technological advancements; increased use of lands
for growing feedstock crops; liberal government
policies; and of course higher degree of dependence
on then available renewable resources.
With elevated supply, demand too gets boosted to
about 600- 1000 EJ by the year 2050 and will met
through increased use of residues and wastes, sugar,
starch and oil crops, and increasingly, lignocellulosic
crops.

So how this biomass can be converted to usable

entities? Out of the innumerable merchandise is the
most popular product and that is biofuels some of
them are bioethanol from sugar and starch crops;
biodiesel from oil crops and lastly residual oils and
fats.
Above talked about fuels are deployed in several
countries as 1st generation biofuels and serving the
consumers with high grade energy. Further endeavors
known as 2nd generation biofuels includes
lignocellulosic crops/ feedstocks for production of
bioethanol; synthetic diesel; aviation fuel that still
under R&D and have long way to cover before we can
utilize them.
What make biomass derived energy so unique? Lets
shatter the monopoly of coal derived energy by
stating the facts one by one. In addition to being
renewable, biomass' carbon emissions and local
access relative to fossil fuels are important
considerations. While coal may be 20% less costly
than biomass right now, coal is also responsible for
producing the most carbon emissions and other
pollutants than any other fuel source. Other fossil
fuels are significantly more costly and also produce
high levels of pollution.
In contrast, biomass from plants and vegetation are
considered low-carbon or carbon-neutral. During their
growing cycle, plants use photosynthesis to absorb
and convert sunlight and carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere into nutrients and energy. When these
plants are burned, for example, in a power plant,
carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere.
The carbon dioxide is again absorbed during the next
crop's growth cycle. This repetitive cycle of
absorption-release-absorption results in a carbonneutral effect on the atmosphere.
Since planting, harvesting and transportation
equipment use petroleum-based fuel, and many
fertilizers are also petroleum based, some carbon
emissions occur with biomass. However, when grass
crops are grown using sustainable methods, the
amounts of carbon emissions are small, especially
compared to the energy that will be produced by
burning the biomass, and the net result is very low
carbon emissions, compared to burning coal or other
fossil fuels.
And what makes biomass energy supreme of all the
renewable resources?
Solar and wind offer the important advantage of zero
fuel cost, but they have higher capital costs and much
lower utilization rates because solar only produces

electricity when it is sunny and wind when it is windy.

The combination of high capital costs and low
utilization lead to high electricity prices. Because of
their transient nature and variability of weather
conditions, solar and wind energy cannot be used as
base power and are largely utilized in sophisticated
grids where there are back up natural gas power
plants that can take up to load on cloudy or windless
days. Biomass and coal power plants operate 24 hours
a day and are used as base power.
Even though the biomass fuel costs money and is not
free like the wind and sun, lower capital costs and a
much higher utilization rate more than compensate,
and the price of biomass electricity is substantially
cheaper than solar and even wind. Note that
electricity generated from coal is still the cheapest,
but only by 10 to 15% compared to biomass.
Biomass electricity is cost-effective and practical, and
it offers a realistic and sustainable alternative to fossil
fuels. Biomass is versatile and can also be used to
produce bio-methane to replace natural gas, liquid
biofuels to replace gasoline and diesel fuel, and as
feedstock to produce biochemicals and bio plastics.

We shall now turn the coin to look for the antagonism

of the matter.
On July 18th, IEA (International Energy Agency)
published a report stating that an estimated 6.5
million death are caused by air pollution annually. Of
these deaths, 3.5 million are connected with energy
poverty and the use biomass and kerosene for
cooking and lighting that affects 2.7 billion people
worldwide.
Not only this, Reliability of supply is uncertain. A
farmer may decide from year-to-year what to grow
and the waste from the new crop may not be suitable
for the biomass application. It is expensive. Although
the waste originally had little value to the farmer and
was often burned or plowed under, farmers in India,

China and Thailand have tripled the price over the last
several years.
Still the biomass energy comes out to be the winner in
the sustainable energy production in coming times.
With lesser capital, low greenhouse gases emissions,
renewability, etc. this is best alternate a government
can impose to generate power in a country. One most
important aspect is policies framework designed by
policy makers which will definitely boost bioenergy
production. Policies should take into account the
development stage of a specific bioenergy technology,
and provide incentives consistent with the barriers
that an option is facing. The under developed nations
with potent future demand (like India and Indonesia)
need to fashion policies so that markets for bioenergy
technology, raw material, feedstocks, can imported
and exported liberally.

BY PARASH LOYA