Biomass is the wasted organic matter of the plants, which is available in various forms like wood, broken branches of tree, twigs, leaves and even garbage and waster paper. The biomass materials are a great source of energy that can be used for various applications like heating water, cooking food, generating power etc. Biofuels obtained from the biomass can also be used as the alternative fuel for the vehicles.
Here are some of the advantages of using biomass materials:
1) Biomass energy source is renewable: The biomass energy source is considered to the renewable energy source because biomass is mainly obtained from the plants and the plant life will be there as long as the planet earth is there. The renewable energy source like biomass is available in unlimited quantities for unlimited period of time. Hence if one were to be dependent on biomass there won’t be shortage of biomass as a fuel for them.
2) Biomass can reduce greenhouse effect: There is interesting point to note here. Burning of the biomass fuels does releases CO2 gases just like the burning of fossil fuels. However, there is difference here. In fossil fuels CO2 gases are lying in the latent state since millions of years and their release in present times leads to the overall increase in the CO2 content of the atmosphere. On the other hand the biomass is the plant material generated recently hence the CO2 gas is lying dormant in it as the plant grows. CO2 from the fossil fuels is new for the earth, while CO2 from biomass is the part of growth of the plant in present times. Thus the burning of fossil fuels adds new CO2 to the atmosphere while burning of biomass balances the CO2 absorbed by the plants during its growth. The use of biofuels, however, does prevents the release of sulfur-dioxide to the atmosphere.
3) Indigenous fuels: The fuels from biomass materials can be produced indigenously and no high technology is required for it. Further, the biomass materials are available in almost all the countries. Producing the fuel from biomass materials reduces the dependence of the country on foreign resource for their fuel requirements.
4) Clean surroundings: The biomass material is the waste generated by the plants, animals and human beings. It includes lots of municipal waste, garbage, paper water, industrial scrap etc. Using biomass as the fuel not only gives us the energy but also helps remove the garbage from the surroundings and keep the surroundings clean.