IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v14y2010i3p919-937.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biomass energy and the environmental impacts associated with its production and utilization

Author

Listed:
  • Abbasi, Tasneem
  • Abbasi, S.A.

Abstract

Biomass is the first-ever fuel used by humankind and is also the fuel which was the mainstay of the global fuel economy till the middle of the 18th century. Then fossil fuels took over because fossil fuels were not only more abundant and denser in their energy content, but also generated less pollution when burnt, in comparison to biomass. In recent years there is a resurgence of interest in biomass energy because biomass is perceived as a carbon-neutral source of energy unlike net carbon-emitting fossil fuels of which copious use has led to global warming and ocean acidification. The paper takes stock of the various sources of biomass and the possible ways in which it can be utilized for generating energy. It then examines the environmental impacts, including impact vis a vis greenhouse gas emissions, of different biomass energy generation-utilization options.

Suggested Citation

  • Abbasi, Tasneem & Abbasi, S.A., 2010. "Biomass energy and the environmental impacts associated with its production and utilization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 919-937, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:14:y:2010:i:3:p:919-937
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364-0321(09)00268-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thornley, Patricia, 2006. "Increasing biomass based power generation in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(15), pages 2087-2099, October.
    2. Luo, Lin & van der Voet, Ester & Huppes, Gjalt, 2009. "An energy analysis of ethanol from cellulosic feedstock-Corn stover," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 2003-2011, October.
    3. Chynoweth, David P & Owens, John M & Legrand, Robert, 2001. "Renewable methane from anaerobic digestion of biomass," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 1-8.
    4. Thornley, Patricia & Upham, Paul & Huang, Ye & Rezvani, Sina & Brammer, John & Rogers, John, 2009. "Integrated assessment of bioelectricity technology options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 890-903, March.
    5. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    6. Hallam, Arne & Anderson, I. C. & Buxton, D. R., 2001. "Comparative Economic Analysis of Perennial, Annual and Intercrops for Biomass Production," Staff General Research Papers Archive 5076, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. Saxena, R.C. & Adhikari, D.K. & Goyal, H.B., 2009. "Biomass-based energy fuel through biochemical routes: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 167-178, January.
    8. Kalita, Dipul, 2008. "Hydrocarbon plant--New source of energy for future," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 455-471, February.
    9. Lora, E.S. & Andrade, R.V., 2009. "Biomass as energy source in Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 777-788, May.
    10. Calvin, Melvin, 1979. "Petroleum plantations and synthetic chloroplasts," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 4(5), pages 851-869.
    11. Gasol, Carles M. & Martínez, Sergio & Rigola, Miquel & Rieradevall, Joan & Anton, Assumpció & Carrasco, Juan & Ciria, Pilar & Gabarrell, Xavier, 2009. "Feasibility assessment of poplar bioenergy systems in the Southern Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 801-812, May.
    12. Yu, Suiran & Tao, Jing, 2009. "Simulation-based life cycle assessment of energy efficiency of biomass-based ethanol fuel from different feedstocks in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 476-484.
    13. Liu, Gang & Lucas, Mario & Shen, Lei, 2008. "Rural household energy consumption and its impacts on eco-environment in Tibet: Taking Taktse county as an example," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(7), pages 1890-1908, September.
    14. Hoekman, S. Kent, 2009. "Biofuels in the U.S. – Challenges and Opportunities," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 14-22.
    15. Xiaohua, Wang & Zhenmin, Feng, 2004. "Biofuel use and its emission of noxious gases in rural China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 183-192, April.
    16. Rowe, Rebecca L. & Street, Nathaniel R. & Taylor, Gail, 2009. "Identifying potential environmental impacts of large-scale deployment of dedicated bioenergy crops in the UK," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 271-290, January.
    17. Kandpal, J.B. & Maheshwari, R.C. & Kandpal, Tara Chandra, 1994. "Release of air pollutants in indoor air: Comparison of traditional and metallic cookstoves," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 4(7), pages 833-837.
    18. Pei-dong, Zhang & Guomei, Jia & Gang, Wang, 2007. "Contribution to emission reduction of CO2 and SO2 by household biogas construction in rural China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(8), pages 1903-1912, October.
    19. Abbasi, S. A. & Abbasi, Naseema, 2000. "The likely adverse environmental impacts of renewable energy sources," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(1-4), pages 121-144, April.
    20. Silvia Secchi & Bruce A. Babcock, 2007. "Impact of High Crop Prices on Environmental Quality: A Case of Iowa and the Conservation Reserve Program," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 07-wp447, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    21. Liu, Jing & Ma, Xiaoqian, 2009. "The analysis on energy and environmental impacts of microalgae-based fuel methanol in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1479-1488, April.
    22. Kannan, R. & Leong, K.C. & Osman, R. & Ho, H.K., 2007. "Life cycle energy, emissions and cost inventory of power generation technologies in Singapore," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 702-715, May.
    23. Kirubakaran, V. & Sivaramakrishnan, V. & Nalini, R. & Sekar, T. & Premalatha, M. & Subramanian, P., 2009. "A review on gasification of biomass," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 179-186, January.
    24. AkpInar, Adem & Kömürcü, Murat Ihsan & Kankal, Murat & Özölçer, Ismail HakkI & Kaygusuz, Kamil, 2008. "Energy situation and renewables in Turkey and environmental effects of energy use," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(8), pages 2013-2039, October.
    25. Pimentel, David & Herdendorf, M. & Eisenfeld, S. & Olander, L. & Carroquino, M. & Corson, C. & McDade, J. & Chung, Y. & Cannon, W. & Roberts, J., 1994. "Achieving a secure energy future: environmental and economic issues," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 201-219, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohammad I. Jahirul & Mohammad G. Rasul & Ashfaque Ahmed Chowdhury & Nanjappa Ashwath, 2012. "Biofuels Production through Biomass Pyrolysis —A Technological Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(12), pages 1-50, November.
    2. Goh, Chun Sheng & Lee, Keat Teong, 2010. "A visionary and conceptual macroalgae-based third-generation bioethanol (TGB) biorefinery in Sabah, Malaysia as an underlay for renewable and sustainable development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 842-848, February.
    3. M. N. Uddin & Kuaanan Techato & Juntakan Taweekun & Md Mofijur Rahman & M. G. Rasul & T. M. I. Mahlia & S. M. Ashrafur, 2018. "An Overview of Recent Developments in Biomass Pyrolysis Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-24, November.
    4. Thornley, Patricia & Upham, Paul & Huang, Ye & Rezvani, Sina & Brammer, John & Rogers, John, 2009. "Integrated assessment of bioelectricity technology options," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 890-903, March.
    5. Fung, Timothy K.F. & Choi, Doo Hun & Scheufele, Dietram A. & Shaw, Bret R., 2014. "Public opinion about biofuels: The interplay between party identification and risk/benefit perception," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 344-355.
    6. Jouhara, H. & Nannou, T.K. & Anguilano, L. & Ghazal, H. & Spencer, N., 2017. "Heat pipe based municipal waste treatment unit for home energy recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1210-1230.
    7. Robert Perlack, Robert & Eaton, Lawrence & Thurhollow, Anthony & Langholtz, Matt & De La Torre Ugarte, Daniel, 2011. "US billion-ton update: biomass supply for a bioenergy and bioproducts industry," MPRA Paper 89324, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2011.
    8. Francesca Nardin & Fabrizio Mazzetto, 2014. "Mapping of Biomass Fluxes: A Method for Optimizing Biogas-Refinery of Livestock Effluents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(9), pages 1-21, September.
    9. Kambo, Harpreet Singh & Dutta, Animesh, 2015. "A comparative review of biochar and hydrochar in terms of production, physico-chemical properties and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 359-378.
    10. Pandey, Vimal Chandra & Singh, Kripal & Singh, Jay Shankar & Kumar, Akhilesh & Singh, Bajrang & Singh, Rana P., 2012. "Jatropha curcas: A potential biofuel plant for sustainable environmental development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2870-2883.
    11. Aliyu, Abubakar Sadiq & Dada, Joseph O. & Adam, Ibrahim Khalil, 2015. "Current status and future prospects of renewable energy in Nigeria," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 336-346.
    12. Jiang, Yong & Swinton, Scott M., 2008. "Market Interactions, Farmer Choices, and the Sustainability of Growing Advanced Biofuels," Staff Paper Series 43634, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    13. Hammond, Jim & Shackley, Simon & Sohi, Saran & Brownsort, Peter, 2011. "Prospective life cycle carbon abatement for pyrolysis biochar systems in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2646-2655, May.
    14. Ma, Hengyun & Oxley, Les & Gibson, John & Li, Wen, 2010. "A survey of China's renewable energy economy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 438-445, January.
    15. Avri Eitan & Gillad Rosen & Lior Herman & Itay Fishhendler, 2020. "Renewable Energy Entrepreneurs: A Conceptual Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-23, May.
    16. Horschig, Thomas & Adams, Paul W.R. & Röder, Mirjam & Thornley, Patricia & Thrän, Daniela, 2016. "Reasonable potential for GHG savings by anaerobic biomethane in Germany and UK derived from economic and ecological analyses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 840-852.
    17. Carriquiry, Miguel A. & Du, Xiaodong & Timilsina, Govinda R., 2011. "Second generation biofuels: Economics and policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4222-4234, July.
    18. Li, Lin & Sun, Zeyi & Yao, Xufeng & Wang, Donghai, 2016. "Optimal production scheduling for energy efficiency improvement in biofuel feedstock preprocessing considering work-in-process particle separation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 474-481.
    19. Nguyen, Trung H. & Granger, Julien & Pandya, Deval & Paustian, Keith, 2019. "High-resolution multi-objective optimization of feedstock landscape design for hybrid first and second generation biorefineries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1484-1496.
    20. Rafi Amir-Ud-Din, 2014. "From Energy Blues to Green Energy: Options Before Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 309-325.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:14:y:2010:i:3:p:919-937. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.