Introduction

As the demand for electricity increased at a substantial rate over the last hundred years ,the need for renewable energy sources began to increase. One of these renewable energy sources that has been used is biomass. Using biomass as a fuel source is not a new concept. For the last several hundred years humans have been able to successfully harness the energy from the sun that is contained in biomass. The process of harnessing this energy included the following processes: burn the biomass, heat water, create steam, use steam to generate electricity (How Biomass Energy Works). There are two main approaches to growing and harvesting biomass plants: “growing plants for specific energy use, and using the residues from plants that are used for other things” (How Biomass Energy Works). There are many different types of biomass energy resources such as trees, grass, crops, industrial and agricultural waste. All of these possible options have been tested and used as single or a part of a combination of fuel sources. In the article “Building on its Biomass Base” in the Biomass Magazine author Lisa Gibson talks about how four separate companies are testing in their biomass systems in the same building. In this article Lisa writes about the different research areas that are being explores including , an algae photo bioreactor, a Fastox gasification system, circulating fluidized bed combustor, and a methane producing waste water treatment plant (Gibson). Each one of these processed offer great potential to be used as fuel sources. The most efficient methods is to take a substance that is seen as waste and convert it to a usable fuel source, these processes can “ kill two birds with one stone”. The total energy in vs. energy out equation for the production of these biomass based fuels is still being perfected through current research, and will only become more efficient over time. The challenges that have to be over come to be able to produce these biofuels on a large scale are outline in the academic journal “an overview of second generation biofuel technologies” by Ralph Sims. The challenges include technical barriers, production cost, need for more investment in research and development, and the transition process from one source to another (Sims).