Renewable Energy from Biomass , Introduction

Biomass has been a major energy source for humans since the mastering of the fire in ancient days. In addition, for a very long time in the history of humankind, bioenergy has been basically the one and only energy source for cooking, heating, and lighting. Beside this, biomass has been used as a horse or cattle feed for the provision of power and transportation duties and thus in an indirect way for energy provision. Therefore, the development of the human culture would have not been possible without the extensive use of biomass for energy.

During the last two centuries, the relative contribution of bioenergy within the overall energy system has been decreased due to an increasingly extensive use of, first, coal and, later, crude oil and natural gas. Nevertheless, on a global scale, biomass contributes still with roughly 10% to cover the overall primary energy consumption. Thus, bioenergy is still today the most important renewable source of energy used by...