Advantages of biomass energy

Biomass energy is increasingly popular as an alternative energy source for a variety of reasons:

• It is widely available.
• It is a renewable resource, when it is sustainably used and managed.
• It results in less waste being sent to landfills. Burning unusable waste materials such as bark, construction wastes and tree clippings helps to reduce the pressure to expand local landfill sites while generating useful energy.
• It can help provide answers to the climate change issue. Using biomass energy does not increase atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, a primary greenhouse gas, because of the cycles of regrowth for plants and trees. The use of biomass can also decrease the amount of methane, another greenhouse gas, which is emitted from decaying organic matter.
• It can be converted into several forms of energy. For example, wood can be processed and converted to gas. Landfills can produce methane, and corn, wheat and other materials can be used to manufacture liquid fuel ethanol.