Question

Why bioenergy is not a solution to Global energy supply?

Answer 1

failure of bioenergy:

1- in a demand of mega-scale, bioenergy does not seem to be an appropriate solution. according to report, the world averagely consumes about 20 billion tons of fossil energy. but from agricultural land only 9 billion tones of energy out of which 3 billion tonnes are used for food energy. so there is a large scale difference between consumption and production of bioenergy.

2. researchers are continuously trying to produce an alternative to fossil oil. to do that they have to produce a large amount seed oil, which needs more agricultural land at the expense of forest land. this is also good for the environment. there must be always a balance between earth environment and human demand.

3. another main obstacle is the low efficiency of plants. in industrial countries, bioenergy always remains in marginal position. the photosynthesis efficiencies of plants are 1%, some algae have 5%, the solar panel has 15-16% efficiency. with this low efficiency, the world demand cannot be fulfilled.

so bioenergy can be an alternative solution but cannot be a permanent solution.