Potential aspects of bioenergy for fueling the future

Bioenergy is unique amongst the renewable energy sources that can readily replace fossil fuels, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable rural development. It attracts the attention as a sustainable and renewable energy source, which is abundant and available around the world. Agricultural and forestry residues or the biomass represent a potential low cost, low carbon source for bioenergy. Biomass is a clean form of energy produced from organic material originating from different plant species including the bioenergy crops and is essentially the collection and storage of the sun's energy through photosynthesis. It covers more than 10% of the world's primary energy demand (about 50 EJ yr⁻¹). The biomass resources are by far not fully used and further research and technological development is required in this area. Biofuels are a wide range of fuels which are in some way derived from biomass. Biofuels are gaining increased public and scientific attention, driven by factors such as oil price spikes, the need for increased energy security. Various factors play a large role in the future of bioenergy in Society. Bioenergy contributes to the maintenance of rural societies, reduction of greenhouse gases, energy security, and protection and conservation of natural resources. Many of the technical barriers to bioenergy use have been overcome; the remaining hurdles are those of a less tangible nature, i.e., financial and institutional. Given a supportive policy environment, bioenergy can provide a sustainable solution to future energy demands.