BIOMASS, THE RENEWABLE ENERGY OF THE FUTURE

The human being through history has always sought ways to use energy to obtain a better
quality of life. For this, the human has made use of various forms of energy such as fire, wind, water,
oil; a long list of elements with which this has created enough energy to live. However, not all forms
of energy are environmentally friendly; some will not help us forever and emerges as a solution to
this problem the use of renewable energy, energy friendly with the environment. In addition, there
are many, of which we will focus on biomass, but what is biomass and how can it contribute to the
environment? Biomass refers to the set of renewable organic matter of plant origin, animal or from
the natural or artificial transformation of it. The energy of the biomass then corresponds to all that
energy that can be obtained from it, through its direct burning or processing to obtain another type
of fuel. The use of biomass helps drastically in many aspects that we will discuss in this essay, such
as: clean energy generation because it can reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, can convert a
large amount of waste into material energetic, and helps the recovery of soils avoiding erosion and
degradation of the same.

There are many ways to demonstrate that the use of biomass as an energy source can drastically
reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. First is that, contrary to conventional energy, its
combustion does not increase the greenhouse effect because its zero contribution of CO2 to the
atmosphere, thanks to the fact that it uses residues that already produced CO2, so the amount of
CO2 in the biomass already existed. For this reason, the contribution is null. Another way is that
plants through photosynthesis take the CO2 from the atmosphere and transform it into oxygen and
carbon formed what we call the organic matter that is our energy source, so biomass uses this CO2
as a material for the generation of energy. On the other hand, to use biomass as an energy source
helps to stop using other sources of pollutants, to stop burning harmful fuels for the environment, so
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For these reasons, the production of greenhouse gases is
minimal and becomes one of the best options when choosing a renewable energy that helps
improve the quality of the environment.

Eliminating part of the waste and garbage and convert in energy is a work of biomass. Wastes used
to generate energy are first that all the vegetation, through photosynthesis plants that contain
chlorophyll, transform carbon dioxide and water, non-energy mineral products, into organic
materials with a high-energy content. In addition, we have animal waste; the biomass is obtained
through the biological chain of living beings, their waste. Convert manure into energy. Thirdly, we
have the waste from the agricultural industry, agricultural and forestry wastes are an environmental
problem, but these can be used to create biomass and give them useful use. Moreover, the last, City
and human wastes. The use in the city corresponds to the residues of straw, sawdust, manure,
residues from slaughterhouses, urban rubbish and now human waste such as food waste, excrement
and other organic garbage have an appropriate use, to create biomass. In a general way, the waste
can be taken advantage of and prevented from becoming contamination generators that go from
being trash to being useful energy for humanity. So biomass is an alternative to dispose of wastes,
wastes that previously had no useful use, and were perhaps harmful if they remained in the
environment (agricultural or industrial in the case of cities).

Thanks to the biomass, we can restore deteriorated soils giving them a use. However, how can
biomass help the soil? Well, there are many forms to help the soil. The first can be that when the
biomass removes from circulation waste that can be found on the earth's surface helps the soil has
no environmental complications. In addition, when using biomass as a method of generating energy,
the probability of acid rain is reduced, this is one of the main reasons why soils lose nutrients.
Another good reason is that to create vegetable wastes and use them as fuel you can choose to
plant hectares of trees and that these naturally create the waste that is needed, and when sowing
these help the recovery of the soil returning the nutrients that could have lost. In general form the
recovery of eroded soils can be reduced if there are cultivated and planted plants that serve to
produce biomass and so would be solving two problems at a time. And not only the soil, also water
such as aquifers, rivers, lakes, and in the long term much larger areas can be benefited by this type
of energy.

As can be seen throughout this essay, the usefulness of biomass revolves problems such us the
elimination of waste, but to eliminate them in a useful way, that is to say, more to eliminate is to
take advantage of them, to stop being harmful and to become useful Materials to generate energy.
Moreover, is that reducing the waste directly can reduce the production of greenhouse gases, and if
these reduce, the soils are less likely to accelerate the erosion process. As can be seen throughout
this essay, the usefulness of biomass revolves around the elimination of waste, but to eliminate
them in a useful way, that is to say, more to eliminate is to take advantage of them, to stop being
harmful and to become useful Materials to generate energy. Moreover, it is that reducing the waste
directly can reduce the production of greenhouse gases, and if these reduce, the soils are less likely
to accelerate the erosion process. We see how each point connects with another coming to a very
general conclusion and is that the biomass will become one of the most complete renewable
energies.

By Luis Alberto Chavarria Perez