Editing Renewable energy (section)

=== Bioenergy ===
{{Main|Bioenergy}}
{{Further|Biomass (energy)#Environmental impacts}}
{| class="wikitable"
! Installed capacity and other key design parameters
! Value and year
|-
| Global electricity generation capacity || 150.3 GW (2023){{sfn|IRENA|2024|p=30}}
|-
| Global electricity generation capacity annual growth rate || 5.8% (2014-2023)<ref>{{harvnb|IRENA|2024|p=30}}. Note: Compound annual growth rate 2014-2023.</ref>
|-
| Share of global electricity generation || 2.4% (2022)<ref name="Ember 2024" />
|-
| Levelized cost per megawatt hour || USD 118.908 (2019){{sfn|NREL ATB|2021|loc=Other Technologies (EIA)}}
|-
| Primary technologies || [[Biomass (energy)|Biomass]], [[biofuel]]
|-
| Main applications || Electricity, heating, cooking, transportation fuels
|}

[[Biomass (energy)|Biomass]] is biological material derived from living, or recently living organisms. Most commonly, it refers to plants or plant-derived materials. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly via [[combustion]] to produce heat, or converted to a more energy-dense [[biofuel]] like ethanol. Wood is the most significant biomass energy source as of 2012<ref name="Scheck2012">{{cite news |last1=Scheck |first1=Justin |last2=Dugan |first2=Ianthe Jeanne |title=Wood-Fired Plants Generate Violations |date=23 July 2012 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303740704577524822063133842 |access-date=18 July 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=25 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725004649/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303740704577524822063133842}}</ref> and is usually sourced from a trees cleared for [[Silviculture|silvicultural]] reasons or [[fire prevention]]. Municipal wood waste – for instance, construction materials or sawdust – is also often burned for energy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FAQs • What is woody biomass, and where does it come from? |url=https://www.placer.ca.gov/Faq.aspx?QID=1059 |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=[[Placer County|Placer County Government]]}}</ref> The biggest per-capita producers of wood-based bioenergy are heavily forested countries like Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Austria, and Denmark.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pelkmans |first=Luc |url=https://www.ieabioenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CountriesReport2021_final.pdf |title=IEA Bioenergy Countries' Report: Implementation of bioenergy in the IEA Bioenergy member countries |date=November 2021 |publisher=International Energy Agency |isbn=978-1-910154-93-9 |pages=10 |language=en}}</ref>

Bioenergy can be environmentally destructive if old-growth forests are cleared to make way for crop production. In particular, demand for palm oil to produce biodiesel has contributed to the deforestation of tropical rainforests in Brazil and Indonesia.<ref name=":10" /> In addition, burning biomass still produces carbon emissions, although much less than fossil fuels (39 grams of CO<sub>2</sub> per megajoule of energy, compared to 75 g/MJ for fossil fuels).<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=UK |first=Maria Mellor, WIRED |title=Biofuels are meant to clean up flying's carbon crisis. They won't |url=https://www.wired.com/story/biofuels-aviation-carbon-emissions/ |access-date=2024-05-05 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

Some [[biomass (energy)|biomass]] sources are unsustainable at current rates of exploitation (as of 2017).<ref name="CarbonBrief1">{{cite web |last=Timperly |first=Jocelyn |date=23 February 2017 |title=Biomass subsidies 'not fit for purpose', says Chatham House |url=https://www.carbonbrief.org/biomass-subsidies-not-fit-for-purpose-chatham-house |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106210822/https://www.carbonbrief.org/biomass-subsidies-not-fit-for-purpose-chatham-house |archive-date=6 November 2020 |access-date=31 October 2020 |publisher=Carbon Brief Ltd © 2020 - Company No. 07222041}}</ref>[[File:Metz biomass power station.jpg|thumb|A [[Cogeneration|CHP power station]] using wood to supply 30,000 households in France]]

==== Biofuel ====
{{Main|Biofuel}}
{{See also|Ethanol fuel|Sustainable biofuel|Issues relating to biofuels}}
[[Biofuel]]s are primarily used in transportation, providing 3.5% of the world's transport energy demand in 2022,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biofuels |url=https://www.iea.org/energy-system/low-emission-fuels/biofuels |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=International Energy Agency |language=en}}</ref> up from 2.7% in 2010.{{sfn|REN21 Renewables Global Status Report|2011|pp=13-14}} [[Biojet]] is expected to be important for short-term reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from long-haul flights.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Japan to create bio jet fuel supply chain in clean energy push |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/Japan-to-create-bio-jet-fuel-supply-chain-in-clean-energy-push |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=Nikkei Asia |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Aside from wood, the major sources of bioenergy are [[Ethanol fuel|bioethanol]] and [[biodiesel]].<ref name=":2" /> Bioethanol is usually produced by fermenting the sugar components of crops like [[sugarcane]] and [[maize]], while biodiesel is mostly made from oils extracted from plants, such as [[soybean oil]] and [[corn oil]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Jeremy |date=2016-06-22 |title=Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Biodiesel (Charts and Graphs Included!) |url=https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/all-about-biodiesel/ |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=The Equation |language=en-US}}</ref> Most of the crops used to produce bioethanol and biodiesel are grown specifically for this purpose,<ref>{{cite web|title=Energy crops|url=http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,17301&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL|work=crops are grown specifically for use as fuel|publisher=BIOMASS Energy Centre|access-date=6 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310063405/http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,17301&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL|archive-date=10 March 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> although used [[cooking oil]] accounted for 14% of the oil used to produce biodiesel as of 2015.<ref name=":9" /> The biomass used to produce biofuels varies by region. Maize is the major feedstock in the United States, while sugarcane dominates in Brazil.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Xinyu |last2=Kwon |first2=Hoyoung |last3=Wang |first3=Michael |last4=O’Connor |first4=Don |date=2023-08-15 |title=Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Brazilian Sugar Cane Ethanol Evaluated with the GREET Model Using Data Submitted to RenovaBio |journal=Environmental Science & Technology |language=en |volume=57 |issue=32 |pages=11814–11822 |doi=10.1021/acs.est.2c08488 |pmid=37527415 |bibcode=2023EnST...5711814L |issn=0013-936X|pmc=10433513 }}</ref> In the European Union, where biodiesel is more common than bioethanol, [[rapeseed oil]] and [[palm oil]] are the main feedstocks.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Biofuels |url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/cdc97c88-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/cdc97c88-en |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=OECD Library |language=en}}</ref> China, although it produces comparatively much less biofuel, uses mostly corn and wheat.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Qin |first1=Zhangcai |last2=Zhuang |first2=Qianlai |last3=Cai |first3=Ximing |last4=He |first4=Yujie |last5=Huang |first5=Yao |last6=Jiang |first6=Dong |last7=Lin |first7=Erda |last8=Liu |first8=Yaling |last9=Tang |first9=Ya |last10=Wang |first10=Michael Q. |date=February 2018 |title=Biomass and biofuels in China: Toward bioenergy resource potentials and their impacts on the environment |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1364032117312170 |journal=Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews |language=en |volume=82 |pages=2387–2400 |doi=10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.073|bibcode=2018RSERv..82.2387Q }}</ref> In many countries, biofuels are either subsidized or mandated to be [[Common ethanol fuel mixtures|included in fuel mixtures]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Loyola |first=Mario |date=2019-11-23 |title=Stop the Ethanol Madness |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/ethanol-has-forsaken-us/602191/ |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Faz S Sofia canavial 090607 REFON.JPG|thumb|[[Sustainable biofuel#Sugarcane in Brazil|Sugarcane plantation]] to produce [[Ethanol fuel|ethanol]] in Brazil]]
There are many other sources of bioenergy that are more niche, or not yet viable at large scales. For instance, bioethanol could be [[Cellulosic ethanol|produced from the cellulosic parts]] of crops, rather than only the seed as is common today.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kramer |first=David |date=2022-07-01 |title=Whatever happened to cellulosic ethanol? |url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/75/7/22/2848574/Whatever-happened-to-cellulosic-ethanol |journal=Physics Today |language=en |volume=75 |issue=7 |pages=22–24 |doi=10.1063/PT.3.5036 |bibcode=2022PhT....75g..22K |issn=0031-9228}}</ref> [[Sweet sorghum]] may be a promising alternative source of bioethanol, due to its tolerance of a wide range of climates.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ahmad Dar |first1=Rouf |last2=Ahmad Dar |first2=Eajaz |last3=Kaur |first3=Ajit |last4=Gupta Phutela |first4=Urmila |date=2018-02-01 |title=Sweet sorghum-a promising alternative feedstock for biofuel production |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032117314430 |journal=Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews |volume=82 |pages=4070–4090 |doi=10.1016/j.rser.2017.10.066 |bibcode=2018RSERv..82.4070A |issn=1364-0321}}</ref> [[Cow dung]] can be converted into methane.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Howard |first1=Brian |date=28 January 2020 |title=Turning cow waste into clean power on a national scale |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/energy/480316-turning-cow-waste-into-clean-power-on-a-national-scale |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129180933/https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/energy/480316-turning-cow-waste-into-clean-power-on-a-national-scale |archive-date=29 January 2020 |access-date=30 January 2020 |website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]}}</ref> There is also a great deal of research involving [[algal fuel]], which is attractive because algae is a non-food resource, grows around 20 times faster than most food crops, and can be grown almost anywhere.<ref name="ZhuLiHiltunen2018">{{cite journal | last1 = Zhu | first1 = Liandong | last2 = Li | first2 = Zhaohua | last3 = Hiltunen | first3 = Erkki | title = Microalgae Chlorella vulgaris biomass harvesting by natural flocculant: effects on biomass sedimentation, spent medium recycling and lipid extraction | journal = Biotechnology for Biofuels | date = 28 June 2018 | volume = 11 | issue = 1 | page = 183 | eissn = 1754-6834 | doi = 10.1186/s13068-018-1183-z | pmid = 29988300 | pmc = 6022341 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2018BB.....11..183Z }}</ref>[[File:Soybeanbus.jpg |thumb|A bus fueled by [[biodiesel]]]]