Biomass is a diverse energy source, obtainable directly from growing plants; as a by-product of plant processing, or as biological material ready for final disposal. Elemental biomass is typically 50% carbon and 6% hydrogen, and has a heating value of 5-5.5MWh/t.

In this form, biomass would be an attractive, local, low carbon fuel. However, biomass invariably has a structure that includes large amounts of air and water. This makes it difficult to load (resilient forms), transport (low density) and store securely (moisture). Raw biomass is almost always burnt directly on site, to produce a more usable char, or to raise steam which can be used to supply heat and power.

This limits the main application of biomass energy to remote, or industrial, sites, even though it is potentially an important local source of ‘stored’ sunshine. Faster biomass formation, for instance through energy crop growing, ‘borrows’ more carbon from the atmosphere, enabling greater displacement of more risky fossil carbon fuels.

The challenge for biomass energy, as for ESD Biomass, is to find ways in which biomass can compete more widely as a sustainable alternative to shrinking supplies of coal, oil and gas.