Environmental Groups Support Biomass Generation
American Council on Renewable Energy
Joint Outlook On Renewable Energy 2007
“Due to the localized nature of fuel availability and thermal loads, the majority of new biomass power projects will be at distributed facilities near demand centers. In these applications, local energy resources will be used to fuel local development.”
Edison Electric Institute
Global Climate Change - Biomass
“Biomass is a renewable resource. It can be burned or gasified by electric generators. Biomass power is one of the most attractive options for addressing concerns over carbon dioxide (C02) because trees and other plants sequester atmospheric C02. The growth of plants and their conversion to energy as biomass fuels recycle atmospheric carbon. The result is no net addition of C02 into the atmosphere.”
Environmental Defense Fund
Midwest Power - LESS COAL, LESS CARBON, MORE CHOICES, 2001
“Beyond coal, the Midwest is sitting on a wealth of cost-effective, environmentally sound resources that can meet its needs. Technologies already available - efficiency, wind, biomass and decarbonized coal—could supply more than three times the projected increase in Midwest electricity demand, the equivalent of 120 old-fashioned coal plants”
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Repowering the Midwest - The Clean Energy Development Plan for the Heartland, 2001
“Increasing biomass energy will produce substantial economic and environmental benefits in the Midwest. Employment impact studies demonstrate that biomass is likely to create many more jobs than it would displace in other sectors because money flowing into agriculture creates a large number of jobs. Because biomass fuels are rarely shipped long distances, the money spent on this energy development tends to remain in rural communities. Sustainably produced biomass provides significant environmental advantages because it generates no net CO2.”
Job Jolt – Indiana, 2001
“Under the Clean Energy Development Plan, renewable energy — especially from biomass — and clean efficient uses of natural gas focused on combined heat and power applications (CHP) will represent 11 percent of Indiana’s generation mix by 2010 and 31 percent by 2020. This clean energy development will generate thousands of new jobs and significant economic growth benefits in both urban and rural areas.”
InterAcademy Council
Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future, 2007
“Achieving sustainability objectives will require significant shifts in the current mix of supply resources toward a much larger role for low-carbon technologies and renewable energy sources, including advanced biofuels.”
National Renewables Energy Laboratory
Biomass Power and Conventional Fossil Systems with and without CO2 Sequestration – Comparing the Energy Balance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economics, 2004
“Overall, producing electricity from biomass instead of fossil fuels with CO2 sequestration, can be a cost effective solution in helping to reducing GHG emissions as well as reducing fossil energy consumption from electricity generation. This also avoids the concern about the fate of sequestered CO2 and its long-term environmental effects “
The Value of the Benefits of U.S. Biomass Power, 1999
“Today, independent biomass power generators supply 11 billion kWh/yr to the national electricity grid and, in the process, provide an environmentally superior disposal service for 22 million tons/yr of solid waste.”
Natural Resource Defense Council
Wind, Solar and Biomass Energy Today, 2009
“Biomass energy uses organic matter such as wood or plants -- called biomass -- to create heat, generate electricity and produce fuel for cars that is dramatically cleaner than oil. Biomass energy is growing rapidly and now accounts for 45 percent of the renewable energy used in the United States. As its use expands, biomass helps America lower toxic pollutants in the air and decreases our reliance on foreign oil.”
US Department of Agriculture & Department of Energy
Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, 2005
“The U.S. department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are both strongly committed to expanding the role of biomass as an energy source. In particular, they support biomass fuels and products as a way to reduce the need for oil and gas imports; to support the growth of agriculture, forestry, and rural economies; and to foster major new domestic industries…Biomass has the greatest potential to provide renewable energy for America’s future.”
World Wildlife Fund
Climate Solutions: The WWF Vision for 2050
“The rapid and parallel pursuit of the full range of technologies, such as wind, hydro, solar PV & thermal, and bio-energy is crucial, but within a set of environmental and social constraints to ensure their sustainability.”
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Further Reading
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Biomass Power and Conventional Fossil Systems with and without CO2 Sequestration – Comparing the Energy Balance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economics (PDF link)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The Value of the Benefits of U.S. Biomass Power (PDF link)
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion Ton Supply (PDF link)
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Climate Change 101: Understanding and Responding to Global Climate Change(PDF links)
