Bioenergy

 

Bioenergy is energy from living materials such as plants, wood, and waste. It is the biodegradable fractions of products, wastes, and residues. Therefore, it is a renewable energy source. Plants are the most used source for bioenergy because they are the easiest to grow. Carbon dioxide gets removed during photosynthesis and the net emission of CO2 could be equal if we keep replenishing plants for bioenergy. Biofuels convert biomass into fuel for transportation, biopower burns biomass to generate electricity, and bioproducts are products made from converting biomass into chemicals. America is really trying to improve bioenergy and make it used more frequently all over the United States. It is the most used renewable energy technology in the U.S. by a huge amount.

In an article on energy.gov called "Energy Department Announces $7 Million to Develop Advanced Logistics for Bioenergy Feedstocks" it talked about how that money is going towards two projects to help reduce the costs of transporting biomass to biorefineries. Sometimes the places where they grow the biomass are so far away from the refineries and so they are transported on trucks(with bad gas mileage) on long distances to the refineries. With this project, we could reduce the costs of biomass so that if we make biofuels it would be a lot cheaper than gasoline. They are developing better technology for more efficient and lower-costing harvesting, collection, and transportation of biomass. I am really happy about this news because we are using so much biomass, but we should always look for ways to how to improve the process. They are also using two colleges for help on the project which I think is really cool because it gives them more experience for their future careers.
And the U.S. Department of Energy is not stopping with that project! They are donating $14 million for another biomass project. In another article by energy.gov it said they are using "landscape design approaches that maintain or enhance the environmental and socio-economic sustainability of cellulosic bioenergy through the improvement of feedstock production, logistics systems, and technology development." Their focus is making renewable energy more commercialized and reducing carbon emissions. An example would be using corn for fuel and water quality by improving agricultural residue. Energy is a business and I think is good news that they are using biomass in not only its energy form, but also making the landscape better as well. They are making our technology more efficient which will lower costs so that renewable energy can be more abundant and cheaper. Obviously the U.S. is moving towards biomass and it is no surprised why.