Good Example Of Essay On Clean Energy

Introduction

Clean energy is also referred as renewable energy in most cases or it may also be referred as green energy (Di Caprio et al, 306). Clean energy is generated from renewable sources without creating challenges to the environment or creating limited challenges to the environment. People refer to clean energy using various terms and tend to refer to energy production processes that create less pollution to the environment. The most common types of clean energy used in the current generation are; solar, wind and hydro-electric power. This paper will explore the use of biomass energy as a clean energy source.

Biomass

Generally, biomass energy sources are biological materials generated from algae, woody products, herbaceous plants as well as manure (Di Caprio et al, 307). Biomass can produce energy when burnt for purposes of producing energy or heat and may also be converted to produce electricity. Scientists have argued that biomass is a carbon neutral source of energy owing to the fact that the amount of carbon generated from biomass is approximately equal to the amount of carbon removed from the environment during the life of plants (Di Caprio et al, 307). In case biomass is harvested in a sustainable manner, it also acts as a source of renewable/clean energy, although the transportation processes, processing of biomass and associated land use changes may lead to emission of green-house gases. This requires a comprehensive examination of the entire life-cycle process when creating energy from biomass.

Types of Biomass Fuels

Solid Biomass
Biomass fuels or energy sources can exist in the form of solids for instance: Wood biomass that is usually burnt to produce heat for industrial and domestic use as well as in the production of electricity (Di Caprio et al, 309). Solid Biomass may also be subjected to gasification and used to produce energy in boilers or operate turbines. However, there is no adequate technological advancement that enhances the production of direct energy from solid biomass. There are two main forms of solid biomass energy; the first form is primary solid biomass sources, which may be: Trees and other agricultural crop products that are specifically harvested to produce energy. Secondary sources of biomass are generally by-products from non-energy processes i.e. wooden residues generated from logging activities, waste wooden products generated from furniture production or construction debris et cetera. One of the technologies that is used to generate energy from solid biomass is cogeneration. Cogeneration systems solid biomass products are combusted in boilers in order to generate steam that is passed through turbines to generate electricity.

Liquid Biomass

Biomass energy sources can also exist in the form of liquids. They are mainly produced from agricultural crops, they include: Bio-Oil, ethanol and bio-diesel. The process of converting agricultural crops to liquid biomass energy is referred as pyrolysis (Di Caprio et al, 310). It entails heating biomass at extremely high temperatures, while limiting the amount of oxygen, hence producing liquid fuel. The use of liquid fuel is most common in the transportation sector and in domestic uses, where it is used in heating activities.

Below is a picture of various sources of biomass energy:

Conclusion
Biomass is one of the energy sources that are considered a renewable source of energy; as aforementioned, it is basically derived from biological products such as wood, agricultural waste products et cetera. Despite the fact that biomass is considered a clean source of energy, there are certain challenges that have created barriers to its effective use. To begin with, the costs associated with product and maintenance of biomass energy sources is usually high. Additionally, certain process ascribed to production of biomass i.e. transportation, heating et cetera, are associated with environmental pollution.

Work Cited

Di Caprio, Fabrizio, et al. "Integrated biomass production and biodegradation of olive mill wastewater by cultivation of Scenedesmus sp." Algal Research 9 (2015): 306-311.