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Yes, but what IS biomass?
Simply put, biomass is really any organic material. It’s what we’ve been burning to create energy for millennia like wood, grass, and peat. In its contemporary definition biomass could be a liquid, solid, or gas.
Liquid forms of biomass – like ethanol or biodiesel – can be used as fuel in vehicles. Some popular forms of biomass are crops and switch grasses, but because of Massachusetts’s large wooded areas, wood waste is the most common biofuel used in the area.
Sometimes solid forms of biomass are first converted into gases before being converted to energy. Methane is the gaseous form of biomass most frequently used in biomass plants. The capture and burning of landfill methane is an increasingly popular way to generate both heat and electricity.
Biomass fuels are considered renewable because they are defined as waste or as materials that can rapidly be regrown. When biomass is harvested from a sustainably managed forest, it is considered a carbon neutral fuel because the same amount of biomass will be replanted to replace that burned.
Biomass derived from crop sources are increasingly in the news as more people discuss the social impact of using food as fuel.
Biomass
Siting and Feasibility | Financing | Case Study | This is Just the Beginning...
Biomass is a general term that refers to a range of fuel types as well as a range of conversion and power generation facilities. Biomass fuel could be anything from lumber mill scrap to agricultural waste to landfill gas. Successful biomass power generation projects require a steady supply of a local or on-campus biomass.
Biomass, like other renewable energy technologies, has power and heat generating applications at various scales. Even if a large scale biomass plant is not feasible on your campus, consider a small scale application. A wood pellet furnace, for example, might be a good alternative for a building that is not part of a central heating system. Also keep in mind that biomass plants can be successfully designed and retrofitted for cogeneration – that is to say the co-generation of heat AND electricity.
Siting and Feasibility
Because biomass plants can generate heat and electricity, and because small biomass furnaces can be used in individual buildings, biomass can be cost effective on almost every Massachusetts campus. Many campuses pair biomass with other technologies in feasibility studies since it is viable in multiple circumstances.
Financing
The U.S. Department of Energy has funded biomass facilities and research in the past. As has the Federal CREB program.
The Massachusetts Technology collaborative has funded electricity generating biomass projects in multiple Massachusetts communities. Massachusetts public colleges should contact the Massachusetts Interagency Team about applying for MTC biomass feasibility and construction grants. Find out more information here.
Case Study
Congressman John W. Olver and
Massachusetts State Senator Stephen
M. Brewer at MWCC’s biomass plant.
(Courtesy MWCC)
Mt. Wachusett Community College replaced its electric heat plant with a biomass heating plant which uses woodchips, switch grass, and other organic matter for fuel. The facility provides 85% of the campus’s heating needs and reduced on-campus electrical consumption by 46%. Of the initial $4.3 million first costs, the campus borrowed only $1.87 million.
The rest of the first costs were paid for by the U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust Fund, and utility rebates. MWCC projects an annual cost savings of $396,800, a lower operating budget than that of its conventional plant, and a five year simple payback on the loan.
To find out more about MWCC’s project go to: http://www.mwcc.mass.edu/renewable/biomass.html.
The conversion to biomass has cut the college’s carbon
footprint by 22.5 percent, slashed electricity usage by
38 percent, and water usage by 52 percent. The facility has
saved the college $2.4 million since its installation in 2003.
(Photo courtesy Mount Wachusett Community College)
This is Just the Beginning...
The Division of Energy Resources, in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, has identified biomass as a renewable energy resource with tremendous potential in Massachusetts due to the state's 3 million acres of underutilized forestland and other large sources of wood. This broad initiative will facilitate the development of biomass energy projects and fuel supply infrastructure in the Commonwealth. Find out more about the development of biomass resources in Massachusetts at: Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources.
Although this discussion of biomass has primarily discussed biomass as a heating source, biomass plants can generate electricity especially in cogeneration facilities. To find out more about using biomass for electricity generation, check out the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s websites at: www.mtpc.org/cleanenergy/biomass.htm and www.masstech.org/project_list.cfm.
The U.S. DOE’s website has great information on biomass research and on-going projects. Check it out here.
The Michigan Association of Conservation Districts has developed a great biomass curriculum project. Find out more here.
(Click diagram for larger image.)
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