Biomass is yard waste and other products. This is includes dead trees, tree branches, yard clippings, left over crops, wood chips, and bark, sawdust from lumber mills, tires, and livestock manure. Some of you trash that cannot be recycled into other products that are sent to the dump can also be considered biomass. Recycling biomass for fuel not only cuts down on the need for “landfills” to hold garbage but also presents us with an alternative source of fuel. Although this stuff does not seem like it can produce electricity, heat, compost material or fuels it can. Composting materials such as decayed plant or food products mixed together in a compost pile and spread to help plants grow with a by product of heat. This heat can be used to power homes, while the decomposing materials can be used to help plants grow.

UK, alone, produces well over 10 million tons of bone-dry biomass each year. Of this total, five million tons is now burned to make electricity. The rest is either sold or used to benefit plants. If all of the 10 million tons of biomass in UK were used then they could make 2,000,000,000 watts of electricity! To put it in perspective that is enough to make electricity for over two million homes! Biomass is defiantly a better option than coal powers like many states and countries use.

Using biomass can help reduce global warming compared to a fossil fuel like gasoline. Plants store carbon dioxide as they grow. They use it to make starch and oxygen. When they decompose or are burned the carbon dioxide stored in the plant is released. By replanting the crops, the new plants can use the CO2 produced by the burned plants. So using biomass and replanting helps close the carbon dioxide cycle. However, if the crops are not replanted, then biomass can emit carbon dioxide that will contribute toward global warming. Because we are using all the products of turning biomass into energy, biomass can be considered a renewable fuel. This means that it is environmentally friendly because the biomass can be reduced, recycled, and then reused. Moreover, biomass is a renewable resource because plants make biomass repeatedly. As we strive to get out of our energy crisis and get rid of global warming biomass is defiantly an option to go because it gives us power and helps prevent global warming.