New technologies allow efficient conversion of special crops and fast-growing trees into biogas, heat, or electricity. The system is sustainable; new crops reabsorb the carbon dioxide emitted from conversion of the previous harvest.
Some examples of how efficient utilization of biomass energy could improve living standards the world over include: the addition of 10% of alcohol to petrol could end the lead problem; in sunny countries if a maize farmer devoted 10% of his land to growing sunflowers or peanuts, he could run all the diesel powered machines he uses from the oil produced; Sweden currently gets 9% of her energy from converting her forest products in various ways, but she could get 50%; in the UK, which only devotes 7-8% of her land to forests, crops could be grown to convert to fuel instead of unnecessary feed.
Advantages in biomass for energy schemes include: they store energy and are renewable; they can be developed with present manpower and material resources; they create employment and develop skills; they are reasonably priced and available to all income levels; they are ecologically safe and inoffensive; and they do not increase atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Disadvantages in biomass for energy schemes include: their fertilizer, soil, and water requirements are high; they challenge existing agricultural, forestry, and social practices; they represent a bulky resource for which transport and storage could be a problem; they are subject to climatic variability; they may have low conversion efficiencies; and they are sometimes seasonal.