Future Biomass Usage

Introduction

Hello and welcome to this training course on Future Biomass Usage.

A famous proverb has it that:

“One man’s waste is another man’s treasure “

But in mankind’s interaction with nature to harvest trees from the forest, crops from the land and fish from the sea, we have been slow to identify treasures in the waste streams produced.

For many years, forest or crop residues have been burnt or discarded to make way for new planting.

For many years large amounts of fish caught were thrown back into the sea because they were the wrong type or size or were discarded as waste from processing plants.

As consumers we have thrown our waste into landfill sites that have further impacted local habitats and biodiversity.

Farmers continue to grow crops that they sell at unsustainable prices because large food companies control supplies and can bring in competing products from lower cost regions around the world.

Coastal communities face hardships as fishing boats are forced by quota restrictions to tie up in harbours.

And all the while we pump more CO2 into the atmosphere warming the planet.

All the while we chase depleting oil and gas reserves in sensitive regions of the world causing damage to natural environments.

As a planet we are only coming to realise how unsustainable this is.

It is clear that the resources needed to sustain and grow our societies and economies must be renewable and grown from biological sources.

We must realise the treasure that we have in our natural resources. We call this natural resource Biomass.

What is Biomass?

Biomass may be defined as the material from organic matter or wastes of living organisms that may be used to produce products, fuel or energy.

Biomass has a big future.

In this training course learners are provided with knowledge to be able to understand the potential future usage of biomass in shaping our economies and societies.