Biomasse

Biomass is an important source of energy for about half of the human population. It is considered a renewable resource.

Types of biomass
Lumber, hay, manure, organic waste from landfills and sewage are all amongst what we use as biomass today.

Sustainability
As long as we don't extract biomass as fuel in large quantities at a time or too quickly, it can be considered a form of renewable energy, because our supplies can be replenished as long as plants can grow and organic waste is created,

CO2 neutrality
Even though CO2 is released with the combustion of biomass, it is considered a CO2-neutral resource because the CO2 that is released is used back up when the resource is replenished, for instance through plants growing. In other words, no more CO2 is added to the atmosphere when we use biomass as fuel.

The problem with biomass as a resource
Despite the CO2 neutral aspect of biomass, it is still not a perfect source of renewable or eco-friendly energy. The problem lies in the collection and production of the biomass, which is often not done through completely sustainable means. That means that the use of biomass (because that includes how we manufacture them) often releases CO2, even though the act of burning them doesn't increase atmospheric carbon load. An example of this is for instance that the machines we use to cut down the trees that will be used as biomass may run on fuel derived from fossil energy, as well as the cars used to transport them and the storage facilities used also being dependent on the usage of fossil fuels. In this way, we do release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, even with a renewable energy source.

However, most people will agree that these