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02 MARKET AND INDUSTRY TRENDS
Bio-heat Markets
Biomass in many forms – as solids, liquids or gases – can be
burned directly to produce heat for cooking and heating in the
residential sector by means of the traditional use of biomass or
in modern appliances. It also can be used at a larger scale to
heat larger institutional and commercial buildings, or in industry
to produce high-temperature process heat and/or lower-grade
heat for heating or drying. The heat can be produced directly
or co-produced with electricity via combined heat and power
(CHP) systems and distributed from larger production facilities
by district heating systems to provide heating (and in some case
cooling) to residential, commercial and industrial customers.
The traditional use of biomass for heat involves primarily the use of
simple and inefficient devices to burn woody biomass, in the form
of fuelwood or charcoal. 12 Biomass energy use in 2015 is estimated
at 31 EJ, although it is difficult to quantify the volume consumed
given the informal nature of the supply and uncertainty regarding
the use of these biomass materials. 13 Consumption of fuelwood
for traditional energy uses remained stable in 2015 compared to
previous years, at an estimated 1.9 billion cubic metres (m3); the
largest shares of fuelwood (as well as other fuels such as dung
and agricultural residues) are consumed in Asia, South America
and Africa. 14 The use of charcoal for cooking in many developing
countries, especially in urban areas, has been increasing by an
average of around 3% a year since 2010, reaching an estimated
55 million tonnes in 2015. 15
Modern bioenergy applications provided some 14.4 EJ of heat in
2015, of which an estimated 8.4 EJ was for industrial uses and
6.3 EJ was consumed in the residential and commercial sectors
(used principally for heating buildings and cooking). 16 Modern
biomass heat capacity in 2015 increased by an estimated 10 GW th
to reach approximately 315 GW th. 17
Bioenergy accounts for around 10% of all industrial heat
consumption, and its use in industry has been growing at about
1.3% annually over the past 15 years, principally from solid
biomass. 18 The use of biomass residues to produce heat, often
via CHP, is particularly important in bio-based industries. The
pulp and paper sector was the largest industrial consumer of
bioenergy for heat, sourcing some 43% of its heat requirements
from biomass process residues such as bark and pulping liquors. 19
The food and tobacco industries also meet a considerable share of
their energy needs with biomass. Heat is required to manufacture
biofuels as well: for example, bagasse is used to generate heat and
power in facilities that produce sugarcane-based ethanol.
The principal regions that rely on biomass for industrial heat are
Asia and South America (particularly Brazil, where bagasse is
used in sugar production). 20 North America is the next largest user;
however, the region’s use of bioenergy for heat is declining due to
changes in the structure of the forestry and paper industries. 21
In the buildings sector, the largest consumers of modern biomass
for heat by country include the United States, Germany, France,
Sweden, Italy and Finland. 22 Europe is the largest consumer
by region, due largely to efforts of EU Member States to meet
mandatory targets under the Renewable Energy Directive. 23
Europe (primarily Italy, Germany, Sweden and France) also was
the largest market for wood pellets for heating in 2015, although
the region’s second consecutive mild winter reduced demand
somewhat during the year. 24
Several countries in the Baltic and Eastern European regions have
seen an increase in the use of wood fuels in recent years. Rising
demand is driven by the countries’ ample biomass resources,
widespread use of district heating and desire to reduce quantities
of imported natural gas. In Lithuania, for example, 61% of energy
used in district heating in 2015 was derived from local forestry
industry residues. Lithuania’s biomass-based heat capacity tripled
between 2011 and 2015, to 1,530 MW th. 25
The United States and Canada have strong traditions of using
wood as a fuel for residential heating. As of 2014, some 2.5 million
US households used fuelwood as their principal household
heating fuel, and another 9 million homes used it as a secondary
fuel. 26 Use of wood pellets also increased in these markets,
although growth was constrained by low oil prices during 2015. 27
In China, a programme launched in 2008 to encourage the use
of pelletised agricultural residues for heating and to reduce coal
use in local district heating schemes has stimulated the growth
of a national market and industry. The policy provides support to
farmers to collect and process residues and so provides a useful
rural economic incentive. It is estimated that more than 6 million
tonnes of pellets, with an energy content of some 96 petajoules
(PJ), were produced and used in China during 2015. 28
Biogas also is used in industrial and residential heating applications.
In Europe, it is used increasingly to provide heat for both buildings
(space) and industry (processes), often in conjunction with
electricity production via CHP. 29 Asia leads the world in the use
of small-scale biogas digesters to produce gas for cooking and
space heating. More than 100 million people in rural China and
4.83 million people in India have access to digester gas. 30
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