The power of using plant and animal waste to generate energy By Evan Schafer, Jacob Carrick, and Maggie Weaver Room 7

 Biomass is the use of plant and animal waste to generate electrical energy.  Biomass has supplied far more renewable electricity, until recently, called biopower, which has more power than wind and solar power combined.  Biomass is low in carbon, so it is significant source of renewable energy.  Biomass has two types of reusable fuels called Ethanol and Biodiesel.

1. Plant and animal waste, wood, crops, and trees are collected together into a truck. 2. The materials are then taken to a biomass power plant. 3. The materials are then crushed and fed into a furnace where they are burned. 4. The heated materials are used to boil water. 5. Then the energy from the steam is used power turbines and generators.

 Biomass materials can be found in several different areas. Some areas include…  In the soil  In animal and plant waste  Forests  Lumberyards  Sewer systems

 Gasifiers  Boilers  Silos and fuel tanks  Traveling screws  Shovels  Heat exchangers  Crops, wood, or waste

 Possibly could decrease the amount of air pollution  Can reduce the use of fossil fuels  Costs a small amount locally  Can convert waste into fuel  Is a renewable energy  Is more powerful than several other energy sources

 Large areas will have to use significant amounts of biomass, causing a huge reduction in supply  Some materials aren’t available year round  Could cause a scarcity in trees  Geography limits the ways of using biomass  It takes more energy to plant and harvest the crops  Biomass collection is hard-working and difficult

 About a half of the renewable energy produced in the United States comes from biomass sources, such as wood and paper.  In Wisconsin and Iowa, biomass energy is being used from landfills and dairy farms.  Also in Iowa, a crop called switchgrass is being used in power plants to make electricity.

 Biomass supplies 14% of the world’s energy consumption.  Biomass means natural materials.  When heating and cooking were discovered by burning wood, biomass began.  Wood was the biggest biomass energy provider in the 1800’s.

 Biomass has been around since man first used fire but it started to be used as an energy source around the world in the 1800’s.  In the late 1800’s, gasifiers were starting to be used with engines for power generation.  In the early 1900’s, fuel oil, wood, and coal were huge producers for biomass energy.

 By the mid 1900’s, electricity and natural gas were starting to become the main producers for biomass.  In the 1980’s, America began to build and use biomass power plants.  Today, over 100 countries in the world use biomass for 10.5% of total energy consumption, according to the International Energy Agency.

 Most biomass power plants in the United States are found in California.  Also, another large biomass power plant industry is in Maine.  Around the world, many other plants are found in the Eastern Hemisphere, such as Asia and Europe.  Besides the U.S., Germany is probably one of the largest biomass industries in the world.

 Workers must be hired to collect biomass materials and the cost of paying the workers makes getting biomass materials harder.  Equipment such as trucks to collect the materials, gasifiers, and boilers cost a lot of money. This makes getting the equipment to create biomass more difficult.  They are still discovering different ways to use biomass and the best way of using this energy could still be discovered.

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