BIOMASS ENERGY

 Biomass Energy

Biomass energy is energy generated or produced by living or once-living organisms. The most common biomass materials used for energy are plants, such as corn and soy, above. The energy from these organisms can be burned to create heat or converted into electricity.

How Biomass Energy Works

Heat

Wood pellets

Wood is one of the simplest and oldest forms of biomass energy. Even cavemen burned wood to keep themselves warm and cook meat. Biomass heating systems can burn wood pellets or other biomass materials to provide heat for homes and businesses.

Electricity

Biomass can be used to make electricity, which is what's done in a waste-to-energy plant. Waste, or garbage, has a lot of once living things mixed into it like food scraps, paper, and grass clippings. This waste can be burned to heat water, which turns into steam. The steam turns a turbine, which is a machine with blades that spin like a fan. The spinning blades transfer energy to an electricity generator that makes electricity.

A biogas plant can turn methane into energy.

Did you know that when a cow passes gas, it can be turned into electricity? Methane is a gas that is given off by animal and landfill wastes. Methane is the same gas found in natural gas. Like natural gas, methane can be captured and burned to spin a turbine and generate electricity.