Finding Fuels from the Land -- The Potential for a Large Scale Contribution of Biomass

The estimation of future biomass supplies for large-scale fuels, chemicals, and electricity production is confounded by the many ways in which biomass is generated and used. The production of biomass feedstocks, and bioenergy use today is very dependent on the functioning of some other components of the economy, the three major areas being forestry, agriculture, and the urban environment. As time goes on this dependency will become more strongly integrated with these sectors. A discussion covers the source of bioenergy; secondary residues that arise during the primary processing of biomass into other material and food products; tertiary residues, which are a major component of today's bioenergy system; and the US projection on biomass resource potential for 2020.