How much biomass is used for energy today?
Worldwide, biomass is the fourth largest energy resource after coal, oil, and natural gas. It is used for heating (such as wood stoves in homes and for process heat and steam in industries such as pulp and paper), cooking (especially in many parts of the developing world), transportation (fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel) and for electric power generation. It is estimated that there are about 278 Quadrillion Btu of installed biomass capacity worldwide. Most of this capacity is in the pulp and paper industry using combined heat and power systems.
