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of world’s energy supply. It might serve as a basic energy source for cooking and space heating,
but just with clean fuels and adequate biomass cook stoves, it can have a lower impact on the
environment.
Biomass
Biomass is any organic decomposable matter, derived from plants or animals and it can be
renewed. Woods, wood agricultural crops, herbaceous and woody energy crops can also serve as
biomass, as well as municipal organic wastes, or manure.
The carbon used to construct biomass is absorbed from the atmosphere as carbon dioxide
(CO2) by plant life, using energy from the sun. Plants may subsequently be eaten by animals and
thus converted into animal biomass. However the primary absorption is performed by plants.
If plant material is not eaten it is generally either broken down by micro-organisms or
burned:
If broken down it releases the carbon back to the atmosphere, mainly as either
carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4), depending upon the conditions and
processes involved.
If burned the carbon is returned to the atmosphere as CO2
EU supporting
Research and Technology Development (RTD) plays a key role in bioenergy and the EU
has supported bioenergy-related RTD under several successive Framework Programmes,
covering the whole chain from feedstock production to end-use.
Since starting in 2007, the current Framework Programme (FP7) has been focussing on
biofuels and renewable electricity production from biomass. The predominance of biofuel
projects was a direct result from the high oil prices during that period. Thus far, more than 20
projects have been supported with around EUR 70 million. International cooperation has become
a central issue with coordinated calls to address certain areas, e.g. power generation with Russia
and biofuels with Latin America. Coordinated and joint calls are used to a much larger extent
than in previous years. Case in point is the joint call "Biorefineries" that was published in 2008
and brought together four different research Areas (Energy, Materials, Environment,
Agriculture). Other priorities of current activities are new feedstocks (aquatic biomass & waste)
and biorefineries.