Biomass is a versatile, abundant, and renewable energy resource used widely throughout the world. It is perhaps the most common energy resource in developing countries, used primarily for cooking and heating. While industrialized and newly developing nations have turned to fossil fuels to support economic growth, some are returning to biomass as a means of preserving their depleting natural resources, reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels, strengthening agricultural industries, or reducing environmental pollution. A number of technological advancements, particularly in converting biomass into electricity or alcohol transportation fuels, have triggered this reassessment of biomass as a significant energy resource. The writers report on research and development taking place worldwide, with a focus on work being done in Hawaii. They also assess the technical and economic feasibility of adapting bioenergy technology elsewhere, with particular attention directed at the potential of alcohol fuels for transportation applications and the need to develop bioenergy crops as a precursor to expanded alcohol fuel use and renewable electricity generation.
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