Biomass energy in Asia: a review of status, technologies and policies in Asia

Currently, conventional commercial energy sources — coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear and hydropower - account for 85 % to 90 % of global primary energy consumption; fossil fuels account for approximately 90 % of the conventional commercial energy consumption. Global primary commercial energy consumption has been growing slowly. The trend of growth in global energy consumption is expected to continue in the future - primarily because of the growth in world population and the economic growth in the developing countries. It is likely that the current pattern of energy consumption cannot be sustained in the future because of two major constraints. One of these is the environmental impact of using fossil fuels, particularly climate change, and the other is the depletion of the reserves of fossil fuels, particularly oil. Since the biggest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is the combustion of fossil fuels, one of the most effective approaches to the mitigation of GHG emission would be reducing consumption of these fuels through their substitution by renewable energy. The same approach is also vital for reducing the rate of depletion of fossil fuels. Among the different renewable energy sources, biomass is one of the most promising options for improving and augmenting energy supply over the next three to five decades. One activity of a research project on biomass energy carried out within the framework of a regional research programme funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and coordinated by the author was to analyse barriers to biomass energy systems and prevailing policies regarding these systems in six selected Asian countries: India, Malaysia, the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. This paper presents a synthesis of the country studies, which are presented separately in the current issue of this journal, complemented by information available in the open literature and related experience/developments in other Asian countries.