BIOMASS PLANTATION ENERGY SYSTEMS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Biomass today accounts for over one third of all energy used in developing countries. It has been called “the poor man’s oil” because its direct use by combustion for domestic cooking and heating ranks it at the bottom of the ladder of preferred energy carriers.
Biomass has the potential to provide a much higher level of energy services in developing countries, in environmentally friendly ways, if the production and conversion of biomass is modernized.
Biomass plantation energy systems could make important contributions toward sustainable development in developing countries.
Land resources appear to be sufficient to support significant biomass energy production. Restoring degraded lands (of which there are several hundred million hectares in developing countries) by converting them to biomass energy plantations is one promising approach to establishing plantations on a large scale. Without compromising future agricultural production requirements.
Coupled with advanced conversion technologies, such as biomass-gasifier/gas turbines for electricity production, large-scale biomass-energy plantations could contribute to sustainable development in a variety of ways.
In addition to the direct employment provided by plantations, the economically competitive electricity that could be produced by such systems would act as a magnet to draw other employment- and income-generating activities into rural areas, especially energy-intensive industries that offer well-paying jobs.
Small-scale farm forestry is a promising alternative approach that is growing rapidly in Brazil. In this approach, forestry companies would loan their know-how and some capital to local farmers to help them establish tree crops.
Farmers are, thus, able to grow trees on some or all of their land with high yields, while reducing costs for the forestry companies. Farmers thereby maintain control over their land and gain a revenue source, while forestry companies benefit from the increased local supply of wood.
Environmental concerns must be addressed if biomass energy systems are to make important contributions to sustainable development. Such concerns include the potential impacts of intensive plantation management practices, such as chemical contamination of groundwater and loss of soil quality.
The characteristics of plantations required to insure environmental sustainability will vary with local bioclimatic and socio-economic factors, but biomass energy crops-especially those that would be converted into other energy carriers via thermochemical processes (like gasification)-would have some inherent advantages relative to conventional annual agricultural crops in dealing with environmental concerns.
These include the flexibility to mix species within stands (e.g., nitrogen-fixing varieties might be included), reduced rates of soil erosion and herbicide application due to multi-year implanting of root systems, and reduced pesticide application through use of natural predators inhabiting non-harvested natural vegetation areas adjacent to harvested stands.