Current situation

When analysing the contribution of biomass to the World’s energy consumption, it is important to distinguish two drastically different situations:

• Industrialised countries, where on average biomass accounts for roughly 3-4 percent of total energy consumption, although in some countries with specific policies that support biomass its contribution can reach 15-20 percent, like in Finland, Sweden or Austria. In these countries biomass is often used to produce electricity and heat in cogeneration plants or as a fuel for municipal district heating facilities. In both cases, such utilisation allows for a greater variety of energy services derived from biomass, and in the end results with clean and efficient use of bioenergy.
  
• Developing countries, where on average biomass accounts for 30-40 percent of total energy consumption, and in several countries (mostly in Africa) even above 90 percent. The direct use by combustion for domestic cooking and heating in old and inefficient stoves causes considerable indoor health problems, but also a considerable amount of time must be spent collecting daily fuelwood needs. Not surprisingly, biomass fuels as used in developing countries have been called ‘the poor man’s oil’.Even though the share of biomass in the World’s total energy consumption is more then 10%, it is important to note that most of this is related to the use in developing countries.

The share of biomass in global energy supply is increasing