Biomass Essay

Biomass is waste and remains from things that were living, such as dead trees, crops, garbage and animal wastes. It is renewable source of energy because it is made of renewable materials. Biomass is also stored energy from the sun. The sun gives the grass light. The organisms eat it the grass. They empty their digestive system and we find the grass as dung. The dung is biomass. However, biomass can run out. If all its sources run out then there will not be any more biomass. Biomass is a type of energy. Energy is the capacity to do something or make something work. Biomass can be transferred from stage to stage. It is an organic material made from plants, animals, and garbage.

Wastes and garbage can be processed to form fuel. This happens at a waste treatment plant. Special devices called scrubbers help prevent pollution from entering the air when these wastes are burned. Plants store the sun energy in their roots. We can also change that energy into gas and liquid fuels. They do that when the plant dies. If you have a tank with no air you can put animal dung in it. It will rot and produce ethanol.

Biomass is being used a lot more. When biomass is burned it turns into gases. Some of the energy turns energy that isn’t useful at the time. That energy is called potential energy. When you burn biomass you can make fuel. When it rots you are changing it into ethanol. We can change the environment by using ethanol. When we burn biomass we can use the energy for heating and light. In poor countries they still burn things that are flammable for light and heating.

When energy is burned, green house gases are released. Green house gases trap the solar heat in the atmosphere. Recycling things helps save the world. Recyclable materials are all biomass. The goal of converting energy is efficiency or changing as much as possible of energy into usable form. Burning fossil fuels is bad for the environment while burning biomass is good for the environment.

Many people like biomass because it helps save the environment. My mom likes the biomass because it can conserve human kind. I think it will help us breath cleaner air, result in less deaths and more relaxed lifestyle. My brother likes biomass because the way it is made is interesting. My dad doesn’t like biomass because burning biomass can lead to shortage of many things.

The places where there are no trees, people burn wastes. Ethanol is much more expensive than gasoline. Corn and wheat can be made into ethanol. Ethanol can be made by yourself, but if you don’t know how, then it will cost some money to have others produce it for you. Biomass gets its energy from the sun. Farmers even use ethanol for their stove. I think we can make a difference in the world if we use ethanol.

Biomass is connected to geothermal energy because magma from volcanoes cools and hardens and that makes rock. Then the rock makes soil, and then an organism eats it. Then the food becomes dung and dung is biomass. Wind energy might also be connected because the wind can blow the rocks into a different location, which means different organism, which means other people get it.

I think we are responsible for the environment. We are hurting ourselves and everything else when we pollute the environment. I think we should use biomass because it can support a large amount of people. I think Las Vegas and Hollywood use too much electricity and that money could support needy people. I think if we can get all the biomass we can find, and without destroying things, make ethanol. It can be made by putting wastes and trash in a big, dry tank, and letting it rot. As it rots it produces ethanol.

Question Anwser

How is biomass used?

Biomass is used mainly by Chinese farmers to heat homes and to light them.

How do you change biomass?

You can change biomass into ethanol and gas.

How does it change into different types of biomass?

You put biomass in a tank with no air.As it rots it makes ethanol.

Are more people using it?

Many more people are using it for their basic needs.

Why is it renewable?

Biomass is renewable because plants need light. Organisms eat plants that are transformed in their digestive system. Afterwards the dung comes out and it collected as biomass. Grass and organisms such as cows are renewable.

In the long term why do we need biomass?

We need biomass to prevent global warming. Global warming is bad because it creates holes in the atmosphere. This lets in too much of the bad sun UV rays.

Why is biomass called biomass?

Bio means a form of life or living organism. Mass is the amount of matter. When you combine the two words together they mean life or living organisms in a matter.

How is biomass connected to other forms of energy?

Biomass is connected to geothermal energy because volcanoes create rocks, rocks turn into soil, and soil and grass make biomass.

How is biomass connected to our everyday life?

We use biomass to heat our homes and light our houses.

Why isn’t coal biomass?

Coal is not a biomass because it is not renewable.

What are the pros and cons?

The pros and cons: Biomass helps save the environment but it takes time to make it. it can be made on your own. It costs money to make. It can be dangerous when you are turning it into energy because you need to burn it.

What are the points of view (good or bad)?

I think that biomass is a good energy source because it saves the environment. My mom likes biomass because it saves the environment. She also likes the way it works.

Why do we use biomass?

We use biomass to help save the environment.

How do we conserve it?

We can save biomass by not destroying its sources. Pollution poisons plants and animals that source of biomass.

How do we save the environment?

We can save the environment by using biomass because it comes from nature.

Can biomass run out?

Biomass can run out if all its sources die out. For example people cut down the trees that are the source of biomass.

How do we use this information?

I can use this information to share with people that can do something about preserving the environment. Biomass can sustain more than 20% of U.S. electricity.

How do we know it comes from waste and trash?

It comes from waste and trash because scientists found out that it can be transformed into biomass.

How do we know that it is renewable?

We know it is renewable because its sources are renewable. For example trees and organisms are renewable.

http://www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/ElemInfo/BiomassE.pdf

What is biomass?.....Biomass is a material made from wastes and trash.
What are the types of biomass?.....Types of biomass are Ethanol,animal dung, and types of dung.
What is biomass like?.....Biomass is like a bunch of sewage that is piled up and burned.
How does biomass work?.....People collect all these wastes and trash and then they burn it; things called scrubbers keep the air clean.
How is made?.....To make Ethanol you put it a big tank that has no air and let it sit ,then it will make Ethanol.

Ethanole

1826	Samuel Morey developed an engine that ran on ethanol and turpentine.
1860	German engine inventor Nicholas Otto used ethanol as the fuel in one of his engines. Otto is best known for his development in 1876 of a modern internal combustion engine (referred to as the Otto Cycle).
1862	The Union Congress put a $2 per gallon excise tax on ethanol to help pay for the Civil War. Before the Civil War, ethanol was a major illuminating oil in the United States. After the tax was imposed, the cost of ethanol increased too much to be used this way.
1896	Henry Ford built his first automobile, the quadricycle, to run on pure ethanol.
1906	Over 50 years after imposing the tax on ethanol, Congress removed it, making ethanol an alternative to gasoline as a motor fuel.
1908	Henry Ford produced the Model T. As a flexible fuel vehicle, it could run on ethanol, gasoline, or a combination of the two.
1917–18	During World War I, the need for fuel drove up ethanol demand to 50–60 million gallons per year.
1920s	Gasoline became the motor fuel of choice. Standard Oil began adding ethanol to gasoline to increase octane and to reduce engine knocking.
1930s	Fuel ethanol gained a market in the Midwest. Over 2,000 gasoline stations in the Midwest sold gasohol, which was gasoline blended with 6% to 12% ethanol.
1941–45	Ethanol production for fuel use increased, owing` to a massive wartime increase in demand for fuel, but most of the increased demand for ethanol was for non-fuel wartime uses.
1945–78	Once World War II ended, with reduced need for war materials and with the low price of fuel, ethanol use as a fuel was drastically reduced. From the late 1940s until the late 1970s, virtually no commercial fuel ethanol was available anywhere in the United States.
1974	The first of many legislative actions to promote ethanol as a fuel, the Solar Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1974 led to research and development of the conversion of cellulose and other organic materials (including wastes) into useful energy or fuels.
1975	The United States begins to phase out lead in gasoline. Ethanol becomes more attractive as a possible octane booster for gasoline. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the initial regulations, requiring reduced levels of lead in gasoline in early 1973. By 1986 no lead was allowed in motor gasoline.
1978	The term gasohol was defined, for the first time, in the Energy Tax Act of 1978. Gasohol was defined as a blend of gasoline with at least 10 percent alcohol by volume, excluding alcohol made from petroleum, natural gas, or coal. For this reason, all ethanol to be blended into gasoline is produced from renewable biomass feedstocks. The Federal excise tax on gasoline at the time was 4 cents per gallon. This law amounted to a 40-cents-per-gallon subsidy for every gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline.
1979	The marketing of commercial alcohol-blended fuels began by the Amoco Oil Company, followed by Ashland, Chevron, Beacon, and Texaco. About $1 billion eventually went to biomass-related projects from the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriation Act.
1980–84	The first U.S. survey of ethanol production was conducted. The survey found fewer than 10 ethanol facilities existed, producing about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year. This was a major increase from the late 1950s until the late 1970s, when virtually no fuel ethanol was commercially available. Congress enacted a series of tax benefits to ethanol producers and blenders. These benefits encouraged the growth of ethanol production. The Energy Security Act of 1980 offered insured loans for small ethanol producers (less than 1 million gallons per year), up to $1 million in loan guarantees for each project that could cover up to 90% of construction costs on an ethanol plant; price guarantees for biomass energy projects; and purchase agreements for biomass energy used by Federal agencies. Congress placed an import fee (tariff) on foreign-produced ethanol. Previously, foreign producers, such as Brazil, were able to ship less expensive ethanol into the United States. The Gasohol Competition Act of 1980 banned retaliation against ethanol resellers. The Crude Windfall Tax Act of 1980 extended the ethanol–gasoline blend tax credit.
1983	The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (signed in early 1983) increased the ethanol subsidy to 50 cents per gallon.
1984	The number of ethanol plants in the United States peaked at 163. The Tax Reform Act of 1984 increased the ethanol subsidy to 60 cents per gallon.
1985	Many ethanol producers went out of business, despite the subsidies. Only 74 of the 163 commercial ethanol plants (45%) remained operating by the end of 1985, producing 595 million gallons of ethanol for the year.
1988	Ethanol was first used as an oxygenate in gasoline. Denver, Colorado, mandated oxygenated fuels (i.e., fuels containing oxygen) for winter use to control carbon monoxide emissions. Other oxygenates added to gasoline included MTBE (Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether, made from natural gas and petroleum) and ETBE (Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether, from ethanol and petroleum). MTBE dominated the market for oxygenates.
1990	The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 decreased the ethanol subsidy to 54 cents per gallon of ethanol. Ethanol plants began switching from coal to natural gas for power generation and adopting other cost-reducing technologies. An expanding market and the high cost of fructose corn syrup encouraged expansion of wet mill plants that produce the syrup as a by-product of the ethanol production process.
1992	The Energy Policy Act of 1992 provided for two additional gasoline blends (7.7% and 5.7% ethanol). The Act defined ethanol blends with at least 85% ethanol as alternative transportation fuels. It also required specified car fleets to begin purchasing alternative fuel vehicles, such as vehicles capable of operating on E-85 (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline). The Act also provided tax deductions for purchasing (or converting) a vehicle capable of running on alternative fuel, such as E-85, and for installing equipment to dispense alternative fuels. The Clean Air Act Amendments mandated the wintertime use of oxygenated fuels in 39 major carbon monoxide nonattainment areas (areas where EPA emissions standards for carbon mioxide had not been met) and required year-round use of oxygenates in 9 severe ozone nonattainment areas in 1995. MTBE was still the primary oxygenate used in the United States.
1995	The excise tax exemption and income tax credits were extended to ethanol blenders that produced ETBE. The EPA began requiring the use of reformulated gasoline, year round, in metropolitan areas with the most smog.
1995–96	With a poor corn crop and the doubling of corn prices in the mid–1990s to $5 a bushel, some States passed subsidies to help the ethanol industry.
1997	Major U.S. auto manufacturers began mass production of flexible-fueled vehicle models capable of operating on E-85, gasoline, or both. Despite their ability to use E-85, most of these vehicles used gasoline as their only fuel because of the scarcity of E-85 stations.
1998	The ethanol subsidy was extended through 2007 with a gradual reduction from 54 cents per gallon to 51 cents per gallon in 2005.
1999	Some States began to pass bans on MTBE use in motor gasoline because traces of it were showing up in drinking water sources, presumably from leaking gasoline storage tanks. Because ethanol and ETBE are the main alternatives to MTBE as an oxygenate in gasoline, these bans increased the need for ethanol as they went into effect.
2000	The EPA recommended that MTBE should be phased out nationally.
2001	A 1998 law reduced the ethanol subsidy to 53 cents per gallon, starting January 1, 2001.
2002	U.S. automakers continued to produce large numbers of E-85-capable vehicles to meet Federal regulations that required a certain percentage of fleet vehicles capable of running on alternative fuels. Over 3 million of these vehicles were in use. At the same time, several States were encouraging fueling stations to sell E-85. With only 169 stations in the United States selling E-85, most E-85 capable vehicles are still operating on gasoline instead of on E-85.
2003	A 1998 law reduced the ethanol subsidy to 52 cents per gallon, starting January 1, 2003. As of October 2003, a total of 18 States had passed legislation that would eventually ban MTBE. California began switching from MTBE to ethanol to make reformulated gasoline, resulting in a significant increase in ethanol demand by mid-year, even though the California MTBE ban did not officially go into effect until 2004.
2005	The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was responsible for regulations that ensured gasoline sold in the United States contained a minimum volume of renewable fuel, called the Renewable Fuels Standard. The regulations aimed to double, by 2012, the use of renewable fuel, mainly ethanol made from corn.
2007	The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 expanded the Renewable Fuels Standard to require that 36 billion gallons of ethanol and other fuels be blended into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel by 2022. In 2007, the United States consumed 6.8 billion gallons of ethanol and 0.5 billions gallons of biodiesel. An Argonne National Laboratory study compared data on water, electricity, and total energy usage from 2001 and 2006. During this period, America's ethanol industry achieved improvements in efficiency and resource use while it increased production nearly 300%.
2008	As of March 2008, U.S. ethanol production capacity was at 7.2 billion gallons, with an additional 6.2 billion gallons of capacity under construction.