Resource potential

Estimations of the global bioenergy potential indicate that photosynthesis stores energy in biomass at a rate roughly ten times the present rate of global energy use. The potential contribution of bioenergy to the national energy supply varies from country to country. Countries with large forest resources, such as Canada, the Nordic countries, Brazil, Russia and others have the most potential for a short term increase of bioenergy production.

When assessing the biomass resource potential, it is important to distinguish between the various kinds of assessments:

• Technical potential includes the total quantities of biomass available from a certain area. Looking at woody biomass, it is relatively easy to estimate its technical potential considering that the ages and areas of the forest plantations are generally known.
  
• Economic potential considers the possibility of some variation occurring in the volumes of biomass becoming available for energy as a result of changing world market prices for biomass, but also for fossil fuels and electricity. The economic potential varies with the cost energy sources and is thus more difficult to estimate with any degree of accuracy.
  
• Socio-economic potential estimates the amount of biomass that will be available when all social and environmental factors, along with the economic factors, have been included in the assessment. It is the most likely to occur in reality, but also the most difficult to predict, since it depends on several variables that are difficult to quantify.