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02 MARKET AND INDUSTRY TRENDS
BIOMASS ENERGY
Bioenergy draws on a wide range of potential feedstock materials:
forestry and agricultural residues and wastes of many sorts, as
well as material grown specifically for energy purposes. The
raw materials can be converted to heat for use in buildings and
industry, to electricity, or into gaseous or liquid fuels, which can be
used in transport, for example. This degree of flexibility is unique
amongst the different forms of renewable energy. 1
The most commonly used conversion methods – combustion of
fuels to produce heat or electricity; anaerobic digestion to produce
methane for heat or power production; and the conversion of
sugary and starchy raw materials to ethanol, or of vegetable
oils to biodiesel – all are well-established and commercial
technologies. 2 A further set of conversion processes – for
example, the production of liquid fuels from cellulosic materials
by biological or thermochemical conversion processes, such as
pyrolysis – are at earlier stages of commercialisation or still under
development. 3
In 2015, drivers for the production and use of biomass energy
included rapidly rising energy demand in many countries and
local and global environmental concerns and goals. Challenges
to bioenergy deployment included low fossil fuel prices and
rapidly falling energy prices of some other renewable energy
sources, especially wind and solar PV. 4 Ongoing debate about
the sustainability of bioenergy, including indirect land-use change
and carbon balance, also affected development in the sector. 5
Given these challenges, national policy frameworks continue to
have a large influence on deployment.
BIOENERGY MARKETS
Bioenergy contributes more to primary global energy supply
than any other renewable energy source. 6 Total energy demand
supplied from biomass in 2015 was approximately 60 exajoules
(EJ). 7 The use of biomass for energy has been growing at around
2% per year since 2010. 8 The bioenergy share in total global
primary energy consumption has remained relatively steady
since 2005, at around 10% i , despite a 24% increase in overall
global energy demand between 2005 and 2015. 9
Bioenergy plays a role in all three main energy-use sectors:
heat (and cooling), electricity and transport. The contribution
of bioenergy to final energy demand for heat (traditional and
modern) far outweighs its use in either electricity or transport. 10
(p See Figure 6.)
Solid biomass represents the largest share of biomass used for
heat and electricity generation, whereas liquid biofuel represents
the largest source in the transport sector. 11 (p See Figure 7.)
Figure 6. Shares of Biomass in Total Final Energy Consumption and in Final Energy Consumption by End-use Sector, 2014
Non-biomass
86%
Biomass
14%
Source: See endnote 10 for this section.
Electricity
0.4%
Heat buildings:
traditional
8.9%
Traditional biomass Modern biomass Non-biomass
Heating
buildings
Heating
Power
industry Transport 2.8% 2.0%
%
100
7.2%
25.3%
Transport
0.8%
4.3%
75
Heat industry
2.2%
50
25
0
Heat buildings: modern
1.5%
02
i The final energy share is about 14%, as seen in Figure 6.
RENEWABLES 2016 · GLOBAL STATUS REPORT
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