Biomass is organic material that comes from plants and animals. It's actually made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms bundled together into all kinds of different types of molecules. Biomass contains stored energy from the sun, which is absorbed through photosynthesis. In fact, all the energy we use on Earth – except nuclear – comes from the sun. You could say that the sun is our own nuclear fusion reactor in the sky, providing us with free, unlimited energy. Biomass can therefore be regarded as a natural battery that, under the right conditions, replenishes itself. When you look at it this way, biomass seems to be a very useful source of renewable energy.

Biomass can be burned directly or first converted into liquid biofuels or biogas. When biomass is burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as heat. Similar to fossil fuels, which are essentially ancient biomass sources from millions of years ago.

Biomass can be used for all kinds of purposes in many different energy flows. In other words, there are “all kinds of biomass” with “all kinds of purposes”. That is not a very useful distinction and leads to many misconceptions.

What types of biomass are there?

Wood and processing waste

Consists from residual material from trees, wood pellets, waste from the paper industry, sawmill dust and used building materials such as old furniture.

Fit for heating and transport if converted into biofuels, or electricity generation if solid.

Agricultural crops and waste materials

Consists from energy crops and post-harvest agricultural residues such as straw, corn cobs, beet pulp waste and roadside clippings.

Fit for transport when converted into biofuels, but also for generating electricity in the form of a solid or gas. Food, feed and fiber take priority over energy.

Food, garden and wood waste in household waste

Consists from everything left over after food consumption, as well as all compostable and industrial residues such as cooking oil.

Fit for transport when converted into biofuels, but also for providing heat and generating electricity in the form of a solid or gas.

Animal manure and human wastewater

Consists from poop produced by all humans and livestock.

Fit for heating and generating electricity as gas.

How much biomass is produced annually and how much can we harvest sustainably?

According to Wikipedia The world's estimated biomass production is about 100 billion tons per year, about half of which is in the ocean and the other half on land. Despite the enormous potential of marine biomass to provide energy, we will only look at land-based biomass as it is more practical to harvest. That theoretically leaves us with a maximum of 50 billion tons of biomass produced annually. It should be noted that there is approximately 1.000 times more plant biomass on land than animal biomass, which essentially means that we can neglect animal biomass in our assumptions.

Most of us recognize that it may not be smart to   harvest the biomass that grows annually on Earth, not only for biodiversity reasons but also for practical reasons. Moreover, a significant part of this 50 billion tons of production consists of biomass that is intended for food production, used for animal feed or used for important material purposes such as clothing. This is often referred to as the 'food, feed, fiber first' principle, which means that these types of biomass applications are preferable to the use of biomass for energy purposes.

“Biomass should not infringe on food consumption, raw materials for animals or clothing production”

— food, feed, fiber first principle

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