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Non-renewable energy is not friendly to the environment and can, therefore, have severe effects on peoples’ health

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Non-renewable energy is not friendly to the environment and can, therefore, have severe effects on peoples’ health. These sources are referred to as non-renewable since it is not possible to regenerate them within a short time span. They occur in the form of natural gas, coal, fossil fuels, and oil. Renewable energy, on the other hand, is the type of energy that is obtained from natural sources such as wind, tides, sun, and rain (Liserre, Sauter & Hung, 2010). In addition, renewable energy can be generated continuously and when required. For this reason, renewable energies are available in abundance. They occur in the form of wind power, geothermal energy, and energy from tides, and biomass. The following explores the generation of electricity using biomass and looks at the advantages as well as the disadvantages of using biomass to produce electricity from non-renewable energy sources.

Biomass is fuel, which is derived from organic materials (McKendry, 2002). It is renewable and, hence, a sustainable energy source that is used to generate electricity and other different forms of power. It is used for the generation of electric power, facility heating, as well as for combined power and heat. Biomass as a term entails a wide range of materials, including agricultural residues, human and animal waste, and wood from different sources. Biomass can be transformed into electric power through numerous methods (McKendry, 2002). However, the most common method is the direct burning of biomass material, like wood materials or agricultural waste. Other methods include anaerobic digestion, gasification, and pyrolysis. Different methods are applied to varying kinds of biomass. Woody biomass materials such as wood chip, sawdust and pellets are gasified or combusted to generate electricity. Gasification yields a synthesis gas that has usable energy by burning the biomass with limited oxygen compared to that required for complete combustion (McKendry, 2002). Wheat straw and corn stove residues are compressed and combusted or changed into a gas by the use of an anaerobic digester. Anaerobic digestion yields a renewable natural gas after organic materials are decomposed through the action of bacteria in a place devoid of oxygen.