Here is a brief timeline of events that have shaped the growth of biomass energy from the 1800s to the present:
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1812
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A gas company in London, England, demonstrates the first commercial use of pyrolysis, heating biomass in an oxygen-free environment to produce a liquid oil.
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1840
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First commercially used biomass gasifier is built in France.
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1860s
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Wood is the primary fuel for heating and cooking in homes and businesses, and is used for steam in industry, trains and boats.
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1870s
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Gasifiers are used with engines for power generation.
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1876
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The Otto Cycle, invented by German scientist Nicolaus August Otto, is the first combustion engine to use ethanol-blended gasoline.
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1880s
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Henry Ford uses ethanol to fuel one of his first automobiles, the quadricycle.
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1890s
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Coal begins to displace wood used in steam generation.
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1900
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Vegetable oil is used as a diesel fuel when German inventor Rudolf Diesel demonstrates that a diesel engine can run on peanut oil.
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1908
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When designing his Model T car, Henry Ford expects ethanol to be the major fuel used by motorists. He builds an ethanol fermentation plant in Atchison, Kansas, to manufacture ethanol for motor fuels.
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1910s
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Although wood remains the fuel of choice in rural homes in North America, coal begins to replace the use of wood in city homes.
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1930s
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Kerosene and fuel oil begin to replace wood as primary energy source.
In the United States, ethanol is used to fuel cars well into the 1920s and 1930s. During the 1930s, for example, more than 2,000 service stations in the U.S. Midwest sell “gasohol” (ethanol made from corn).
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1940s
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After World War II, the ethanol fuel industry closes down in the United States, with the arrival of low-priced, abundant petroleum fuels.
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1950s
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Electricity and natural gas displace wood heat in most homes and commercial buildings.
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1970s
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Concerns about crude oil supplies and environmental quality lead to renewed interest in ethanol and other biomass energy sources. Governments begin to fund research into converting biomass into useful energy and fuels.
Companies such as Chevron, Texaco and Amoco Oil Company begin to market ethanol-blended fuels to U.S. consumers.
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1980s
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High energy prices create new interest in biomass energy in Canada. In Atlantic Canada, for example, large institutions and schools modify district heating systems to run on wood wastes.
Biomass power plants are built in North America.
A large biomass power industry quickly develops in California. By 1985, the state has 850 megawatts of installed biomass power capacity.
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1990s
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As public concerns about environmental issues such as air pollution and climate change grow, governments in Canada and elsewhere take a greater interest in using renewable energy, such as biomass, to decrease greenhouse gases and other emissions.
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1990
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In the United States, the Clean Air Act mandates the sale of oxygenated fuels (such as ethanol-blended gasolines) in areas of the country with higher levels of carbon monoxide. The Act helps to stimulate rapid growth in the use of ethanol fuels for transportation. Ethanol production grows from 175 million gallons (approximately 663 million litres) in 1980 to 2.8 billion gallons (approximately 10.6 billion litres) in 2003.
Increasing environmental concerns and changes in government policies spur production of biodiesel fuels in Europe and the United States.
According to the United Nations, biomass energy consumption is about 6.7 per cent of the world’s total energy consumption.
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1992
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The Canadian government grants an excise tax exemption for ethanol used in blended fuels.
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2000
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A survey of 133 countries by the International Energy Agency shows that the biomass share of total energy consumption is 10.5 per cent.
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