fossil fuels

What Are the Biomass Advantages?

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The idea of going “green” is more than a hot trend. The fact is, the entire world is desperately searching for ways to make better use of the earth’s natural resources. And doing so means getting away from the use of fossil fuels. That said, biomass is one of the best ways to generate power in a cleaner manner. In fact, there are many biomass advantages. Here are just a few of them:

• Generating biomass electricity affects our environment in a positive manner-It’s a highly publicized fact that we’re on the verge of a complete crisis in regards to global warming. And one of the major causes of this crisis is all the carbon dioxide we’re releasing while burning fossil fuels. However, when you burn biomass fuels, you’re cutting down on noxious gas emissions. So if you choose to burn biomass, you’re doing something positive for the environment.

• Burning biomass can allow you to repurpose waste byproducts-If your industrial facilities generate reusable waste, you may capitalize on one of the largest biomass advantages. By installing the proper biomass system, you can burn your waste to create biomass electricity. In turn, you may be able to produce enough electricity to power all your facilities. Even better, you just might be able to sell some of that clean electricity back to the grid. Meanwhile, you’re keeping your waste by-products out of landfills. Everyone wins.

• You can meet changing energy regulations– Gone are the days when you could just burn fossil fuels with no repercussions. We have a real problem in our environment and the government is finally stepping in and laying down some rules. And the fact is, these rules are getting stricter. Companies that burn fossil fuels exclusively are going to find increased difficulty in meeting these changing energy regulations. However, switching to biomass energy can help you more easily meet those energy requirements.

• You can burn biomass without building new power plants-One of the greatest biomass advantages is that burning biomass fuels can occur simultaneously with burning fossil fuels in a process known as “co-firing.” With co-firing, you can cut your coal consumption dramatically. You’ll also still benefit from the other biomass advantages, such as recycling carbon dioxide. And at the same time, you’ll still be able to use the same facilities you have in the past, along with the same boiler.

If you think you might be able to capitalize on biomass advantages, then you need to find a reputable biomass energy company. They’ll be able to help you every step of the way. From analyzing your raw materials to planning your biomass technology to integrating your system, they’ll oversee all aspects of your project.

Just remember to look for a company with experience. And not just a few years-you need a company that has been involved with biomass energy creation for decades. When you find that company, give them a call and see how they can help you take advantage of biomass energy.

Learn more about biomass advantages and biomass energy at EvergreenEngineering.Com.

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The History of Biodiesel and How it May Effect Our Future

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Amid all the panic regarding the diminishing supplies of fossil fuel as well as its expense. What would you say, if I told you that the history of biodiesel tells us that the knowledge of this renewable energy source has been available for hundreds of years? They are just as effective as petroleum and they are manufactured from renewable sources such as peanut, canola, hemp and soybean oil.

This history started with Rudolph Diesel when he designed a compression engine. He made use of peanut oil for this purpose, and he wanted to prove that this was the only fuel source which would ever be required. Way back then he knew that using renewable oil resources were a better option than using fossil fuels.

In actual fact biodiesel was used in diesel engines until the 1920’s it was only then that manufacturers decided to make use of petroleum fuel.

Both methanol and ethanol are able to be produced from these fatty acids. Even Henry Ford believed in the concept propounded by Rudolph Diesel and he build a factory which was equipped to mass produce biofuels. He believed that this was the oil of the future and wanted to manufacture all his automobiles to run on this fuel.

When he commenced with this, he was in the top of his market and embarked on partnerships with natural oil companies. However in the 1940’s petroleum based companies started advertising and as petroleum fuel was cheaper at the time, this fossil based fuel soon became the number one best seller.

Biodiesel was originally produced with oils which did not allow a very high yield of fuel, making this fuel expensive. Then they discovered hemp oil. Hemp had been grown for a long time in the US for its many useful purposes. When tested hemp oil was found to be stable and also able to produce greater yield of fuel. Henry Ford went back to the drawing board on manufacturing fuel for his vehicles from hemp oil.

In the same breath, many oil wells had been found in the US and people were getting extremely rich from selling this oil to manufacture petroleum. They were not prepared to give Henry Ford a market share with his products and started a campaign against the hemp oil product, calling it Marijuana.

This campaign was supported by the newspapers of William Randolph Hurst and he had a great amount of sway with the US government. This campaign got the Marijuana Tax Act brought into legislation and people who used hemp oil products were afraid to use it as a certificate was require for any products of this nature. The Government would not issue certificates to anyone and as far as the history of biodiesel goes, this is where the manufacture of this renewable energy source came to an end.

For more useful information about the History Of Biodiesel and how it can effect our future be sure to visit: http://www.energysolutionshub.com

BioFuel a Greener Energy Future

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The growing global demand for energy has caused a steep rise in energy prices, notably for petroleum-based fuels which are the prime source of energy for most of the world’s power plants, machinery, and transportation. As more and more so-called “fossil fuels” are burned to create energy, there has also been a steep rise in the emission of polluting gases around the world. Personal automobiles are the main culprit, since they produce most of the cardon dioxide (CO2) released daily into the atmosphere. CO2 is considered a “greenhouse gas,” trapping heat from the sun at the surface of the earth much the way a greenhouse traps heat inside its glass walls.

Biofuels are by definition any fuel that, by being burned, can be converted to energy, and that is produced from a biological source. Since a biological source is also a renewable one, biofuels are reproducible. Unlike fossil fuels of which there is a fixed amount on earth, biofuels can continue to be produced so long as a source of biomass is available. The types of raw material that be converted into biofuel include organic plants, animals (especially animal fat), and even animal and human waste material.

One type of fuel already being produced from biological sources is biodiesel. This fuel, which burns cleaner than its petroleum-based cousin, can be used by most diesel engines without any need for conversion. Many companies are already involved in the production and distribution of a form of biodiesel known as B20. B20 is a mixture of petroleum-based diesel and biofuel “diesel equivalent.”

Biofuel is already being made from corn and soy, for example. But using corn and soy has correspondingly driven up the demand for both foods, which while being ideal for biofuel production, are also consumed as food by people around the globe. Using these foods for biofuel has pushed up their cost considerably, which in turn has created food shortages in some areas of the world. This has produced an unexpected quandary for biofuel proponents.

If biofuel is ever to become a true alternative to fossil fuels, a way is needed out of this quandary. One possibility is the use of algae as a biofuel foodstock. Algae have the advantage of being a non-food source which can be produced in areas not already being used to grow other types of food. Corn, soy and cottonseed must be grown on arable land. Algae can be grown in pools, in warm climates around the world, and acre per acre algae yield over a hundred times the quantity of biomass of soybeans.

Since algae take in, rather than produce, carbon dioxide, the very foodstock being used to create biofuel can itself be a cause for a reduction in a significant greenhouse gas. Algae biofuel farms could therefore benefit from a dual income stream. The first is from the sale of the algae itself to refineries for the production of biofuel. The second is income generated from the use of the algae farm as a consumer of other forms of pollution.

Some companies have recognized the benefit to poorer communities of developing the market for biofuels while at the same time encouraging the development of foodstock supplies such as algae farms. These companies are planning to encourage production of foodstock for biofuel in poorer countries to supply the energy needs of more developed areas of the world should raise everyone’s quality of life, both in economic terms and in terms of encouraging a cleaner global environment.

Mr. Naved Jafry is the head of Zeon Global Energy. Zeon is committed to produce and promote the biofuels [http://www.zeons.ext.com]. For more information about ZEON please visit Newswire.net Newswire.net is a social network newswire service providing members with a wealth of applications that enable them to create an in depth profile within Newswrie.net. To create your profile  (http://www.newswire.net) sign up and within minutes you too can have your People profile running your ads and building your network with new members daily.

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Biomass is both Man’s Oldest Renewable Energy Source and Newest

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Man started to use biomass for energy on the day that our ancestors discovered fire, and used it for cooking. Biomass is actually just another word for biological-mass. Biomass is anything that has been grown or has lived, except for fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas etc). Fossil fuels were of course created by the decay of living organisms many millennia ago in pre-history and are biomass in that sense, but these are not included within the term ‘biomass’ as used by renewable energy experts.

Biomass takes many forms, some of the most well known are wood, straw, biowaste, wood chip, waste paper, organic slurries from the processing of foodstuffs, livestock farming, sewage treatment, chicken litter etc. I guess that most of us can think of a hundred or more examples of biomass with a little thought, and they can all be burnt, or fermented and digested to provide energy. They all contain energy from the sun, which was bound up into their carbon chemistry while they were alive, and that energy can be released for man’s use without increasing the net additional carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) burden on our planet, as long as we continually replant, breed and re-grow replacement biomass sources in place of those we use.

So biomass can also be grown as a crop for use as fuel. If the biomass is to be grown it will need to be selected to be of high calorific value (give of lots of heat when burnt), grow fast, need little fertilizing or watering, require low power requirements during growing and be cheaply harvested. However, the growing of biomass to use as biofuel on a large scale would have the effect of reducing available land for food crops. This could be a bad thing for the poor, if the cost of food rose.

So where can we find sustainable renewable biomass without taking up good food producing farmland?

Well, as we hinted earlier there is a huge, largely untapped source of biomass, in the waste produced by modern society. Why not use that? (Some purists would say that some waste – like plastics is made from fossil fuel (oil) sources. I would respond that these should, in principle, be removed from the biomass before use, and recycled.)

Biomass can also be separated at source by the public by the rapidly increasing number of councils which provide a separate collection for biowaste, including food waste which is the highest heat producing waste of them all when burnt or digested, and these days comprises between 15% and 25% of all household (domestic) waste by weight. Western societies do throw away an awful lot of food, and in many nations the amount of food discarded is continuing to rise, although overall tonnages of waste created year by year by the public have nearly stabilised.

So society must now rediscover biomass as a significant energy source. We think that we have progressed far away from the simple log fire, which used biomass. In truth we have not. By using fossil fuels in massive quantities, we have simply been raiding the bank, we have been stealing oxygen from the earth’s atmosphere and replacing the oxygen with the greenhouse gas, and global warming gas, carbon dioxide.

We simply cannot go on doing this without reaping climate change disaster on the earth.

We can change our ways. It is possible, but we need thoughtful people like you. People who read articles like this one, to understand this truth, and appreciate the great urgency for change to renewable fuels. The planet needs all of us that do understand to keep ourselves informed and to influence our friends, and persuade them of the value of using biomass as a fuel, and in particular waste biomass is one of the best ways of doing this.

If you want to be one of those that understand renewable energy and what the adoption of renewables can do to help future generations to survive climate change, please do visit our web site.

Our web site is The Renewable Energy News Blog, an upcoming and growing site, with a great deal to say about, and report upon in the renewable energy sector. Be part of the massive sustainable energy challenge!

In particular we think that you would find this article interesting Governments Must Start Now to Put Real Research Money Into Anaerobic Digestion.

Steve also writes for this dog breed web site at The Dog Breeds Compendium.

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