Challenges of Building a Biomass-Based Economy

Will we see Biomass Bottlenecks? Biomass is in high demand. As we are shifting away from fossil-based carbon, #biomass is often the cheapest and most abundant substitute. But it's increasingly scarce. 🎬 Status Quo Europe currently consumes around 160M barrels of oil equivalent in residual biomass, which excludes biomass for food/feed production and focuses on energy and materials. But as demand accelerates, Material Economics anticipates an "availability gap" that could loom as large as 40-70% by 2050. 🌎 Resource Problem Biomass is a limited resource. Without efficiency gains or new supply (#oceanfarming) we run the risk of ongoing significant deforestation in the name of sustainability. But shifting the problem for an emissions to a land use problem, is not solving any problems on a systemic level. 🚦 Best use of biomass The revised EU Renewable Energy Directive introduced a Cascading Principle. This should steer limited forest biomass into higher value applications offering a permanent carbon sink and shifting priority from energy to the #bioeconomy . 📈 Emerging Demand We are seeing a range of new demand sources across chemicals, materials and construction as we shift our uses. Whether its biopolymers, lignin, timber or biochar, their importance is likely to grow in a net-zero economy (while we should also regrow forests as carbon sinks). 💡 Implications  - Shifting to biomass is great development but is has concrete side effects we should not ignore. - Scaling up supply without furthering deforestation increases the importance of ocean farming. - #Startups often enjoy free side streams at the moment. With waste turning into a commodity, we’ll likely see access to supply and further price spikes as a critical issues at scale. - Higher value (margin) applications and feedstock-agnostic technologies (running on a range of waste streams) will be in a better position to secure feedstocks. What do you think? Source: https://lnkd.in/dGTXnzCn

The latest World Resources Institute working paper, "Biomass and Land Use in a Decarbonizing U.S. Economy," dives into the complex role of biomass in achieving net-zero — and delivers a critical takeaway: strong policy and corporate guardrails are essential to ensure biomass supports, rather than hinders, climate progress. Biomass is a limited, land-intensive resource. Yet, many sectors are eyeing it as a fossil fuel alternative. Without thoughtful policies, demand could outpace sustainable supply, triggering large-scale land use shifts that put climate goals at risk. "WRI estimates that without guardrails, the land impact of biomass use is many times larger than that of wind and solar energy."  In fact, by 2050, unchecked biomass demand could require over 100 million acres — an area nearly the size of California and about 12 times more land than wind and solar combined. One thing is clear: biomass can play a valuable role, but only if used wisely. It should be prioritized for hard-to-abate areas like carbon removal and specialty chemicals, not large-scale energy production. Biomass can help us reach a sustainable, net-zero future — but only if we set it on the right path.  Read the working paper: https://lnkd.in/eB2bPg_D #ClimateAction #NetZero #Biomass #LandUse #CleanEnergy

The Strait of Hormuz and Danish use of biomass Denmark’s reliance on 200 PJ of biomass - nearly 30% of national energy use -is not a model to follow. It should be 30–40% lower. If the Strait of Hormuz were to close, oil and gas prices could spike dramatically. While biomass is often viewed as a regional and stable energy source, such a shock would quickly change that. Many countries would seek alternatives, and biomass - wood pellets, biogas, and others - would become a globally contested commodity in regional markets. We saw the early signs of this during the 2022 energy crisis: - Biomass prices surged - Import volumes increased - Supply chains came under pressure - Environmental standards were weakened Denmark's heavy dependence on biomass makes the system vulnerable in future energy crises. While biomass plays a role in heat supply and transition planning, its availability is not guaranteed under global stress. Over-reliance brings both market and sustainability risks. Denmark and Europe needs to build structural energy resilience through: - Reduced demand and energy efficiency - Increasing renewable energy shares (as small demands in e.g. transport and large flexible demands increase) - Electrification of heating and industry, district heating can be a massive flexible player - Large-scale heat pumps and storage - Smarter integration of renewables and sector coupling Biomass should remain a transitional and supplementary source. not phased out. But not a core pillar of long-term energy security. In Denmark the short term electricity demand can increase in GWs taking into account smart electrification of district heating. #EnergySecurity #Biomass #Denmark #DistrictHeating #HeatTransition #SmartEnergySystems #Resilience #StraitOfHormuz #Geopolitics #EnergyPlanning