Virgin biomass

Another factor is the potential economic benefit that may be realized due to possible future environmental regulations from utilizing both waste and virgin biomass as energy resources. Carbon taxes imposed on the use of fossil fuels in the United States to help reduce undesirable automobile and power plant emissions to the atmosphere would provide additional economic incentives to stimulate development of new biomass energy systems. Certain tax credits and subsidies are already available for commercial use of specific types of biomass energy systems (93). 

The most widespread and practical process for capture of this energy as organic fuels is the growth of virgin biomass. As already discussed, extremely large quantities of carbon are fixed each year in the form of terrestrial and... 

TABLE 2.5 Potential Substitute Natural Gas Production in United States from Virgin Biomass Feedstocks at Different Biomass Yields... 

Conversely, the upside of any assessment of virgin biomass feedstocks is that energy and fuel markets are very large and expand with the population, so there should be no shortage of demand for economically competitive energy supplies in the foreseeable future. Systems that offer improved waste disposal together with efficient energy recovery are also expected to fare quite well. 

IV. SELECTION OF VIRGIN BIOMASS SPECIES FOR ENERGY APPLICATIONS... 

IV. Selection of Virgin Biomass Species for Energy Applications... 

In the mid-1990s, few virgin biomass species were grown and harvested in the United States specifically for energy or conversion to biofuels, with the possible exceptions of feedstocks for fuel ethanol and a few tree plantations. This is not difficult to understand from an economic standpoint, especially if conversion costs are included. The nominal price of natural gas in the United... 

---