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Fri, Jan 29th 2010, 00:33

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One of the neglegted renewable energy sources in the Westen World is combustible pellets made from agricultural residues, waste paper, saw dust, etc. These resources, if there is no better use, could easily be utilized in stoves and I suppose even in furnaces for heat generation.

The Chinese seem to have developed very effective & practical conversion pocesses towards this end.

If some briquette version of such products could be pleasantly used in camp sites, fire places & barbecues as well, a great savings on wood and therefore on the forests could be achieved in throughout the world.

Tue, Apr 20th 2010, 13:12

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Utilization of biomass residues from Agriculture & Forestry may be one of the cost effective methods to alleviate the scarcity of petroleum whose reserves are likely to be depleted eventually.

On the other hand very many millions of tons of biomass are left over worldwide unused probably for natural decomposition.

Biomass is chemically composed of lignin plus cellulosic & hemicellulosic materials – roughly speking half and half and some extractives negligible in quantity.

It is well known that there are various chemical and biological processes to convert the non-ligneous part to alcohol successfully and may be feasibly at present. It may also be recalled that some countries combined alcohol w/gasoline to run vehicles successfully around 1980’s. The addition of alcohol into gasoline at the time was reported to yield a fuel having effect like high octane gasolines.

The remaining ligneous part can be somehow, for instance, converted into a fuel oil like liquid to supplement the fuel oil used for heating purposes. Of course I am aware that some kinds of intensive R & D work may be needed to develope cost effective chemical processes to achieve this end but intuitively speaking this might not be too difficult a research problem to delve into considering the level of advancement the mankind has reached already.

There are other well known methods of utilizing biomass for energy production which I need not mention here.

Sat, May 8th 2010, 22:53

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Part of the sun light reaching the surface of our planet Earth is utilized by plant life in photosynthesis for further development of plants in nature. In other words the solar energy called ‘sun light’ thus gets stored in all kinds of the vegetation which are actually good sources of biomass which can be used for a variety of purposes.

Regarding of relatively faster biomass yields of various trees, one can note Empress Tree
(paulownia), Willow Hybrid (salix hybrid), Lombardy Poplar (populus nigra 'Italica'), Hybrid Poplar (populus deltoides), Nutall Oak Tree (quercus nuttalli), Eucalyptus Tree (eucalyptus polyanthemos), etc. at the top of the list of fastest growing trees noted at the following link

http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/FastestTrees.htm .

In addition to these well known plants, it may be considered to developnew plants –not only trees- with better feasibility for generation of biomass by means of intensive R & D based on genetical engineering and other disciplines as well.

The bottomline is that thus it becomes conceivable to utilize solar energy in systematical production of biomass generation for conversion eventually into more preferable forms of energy. The biomass thus obtained can be utilized as an abundant and controllable source of renewable energy, for instance, in the production of the following forms of energy at its first stages:

• Solid pellets to replace coal & fuel oil -it is claimed to be cheaper!

• Biogas to replace natural gas where feasible.

• Alcohol to replace gasoline to some extent.

Moreover as may have been commonly observed people settled near to seasides, lakesides, riversides and/or on forestlands seem to be wealthier in general. The point here is that forestration is an indirect method of enhancing the well being of people everywhere on Earth.

The integration of the above approach into the Energy Sector -to the extent it may be possible using barren land areas on the globe- may also result in alleviating the long standing problem of poverty from which a great part of the World population has been suffering pitifully.

Moreover as may have been commonly observed people settled near to seasides, lakesides, riversides and/or forestlands seem to wealthier in general. The point here is that forestration is an indirect method of enhancing the well being of people everywhere on Earth.

The animals as well as some other life forms can survive and propagate much easier, too, in areas where more vegetation florish. Therefore I feel intuitively that utilization of biomass as a renewable energy resource may also contribute to achieving earlier a better and more peaceful global life for us all and the future generations…