The energy content of the annual global formation of plant biomass is estimated to be around 800,000 TWh, of which the largest portion of 42% occurs in wood land, 38% in the oceans, 9% in grassland and only 5% in arable areas. This corresponds to around seven times the worldwide primary energy consumption or 0.1% of the solar radiation that penetrates the atmosphere. Various sources give relatively similar results for the global new production of biomass. However, things look different when it comes to energetic utilisation. Very different figures are given even for the assess ment of current biomass utilisation. S. Swinehardt (1994) compared various literature sources of which four gave figures on the energetic utilisation of biomass for 1990. The values lie between 9,400 and 21,000 TWh. Even with commercially traded biomass, measurement of the quantities appears to be beset with problems, so that the figures cited from three sources differ widely, with values between 1,700 and 4,800 TWh.

Chapter Contents:

• 6.1 Biomass potential
• 6.2 Biomass costs
• 6.3 Biomass power plants
• 6.4 Biomass utilisation in the scenarios
• 6.4.1 Biomass potential for electricity supply in the scenario area
• 6.4.2 Electricity supply from biomass: further factors to be considered in the scenarios

Inspec keywords: biofuel; energy consumption; bioenergy conversion

Other keywords: energy consumption; solar radiation; biomass utilisation; wood land; plant biomass; biomass production

Subjects: Fossil fuels; Energy resources; Power utilisation