Wood and Biomass Waste Energy Consumption Increases Five Percent in 2010

On May 4, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released state-by-state data on wood and biomass waste energy consumption in the United States for 2010. Industrial sector consumption increased almost nine percent after years of decline, while the much smaller biomass electric power sector continued its increasing trend.

The EIA updated its State Energy Data System for 2010 for wood and biomass energy this week, providing annual state-level estimates of consumption, prices, and expenditures for wood and biomass waste. The EIA estimates that the United States consumed 2,457 trillion BTUs of energy from wood and biomass waste in 2010. This estimate includes : residential sector use of wood for space heating; commercial sector use of wood, municipal waste and landfill gas for space heating, steam heat and electricity generation; industrial sector use of combustible industrial by-products and wood chips for electricity generation and process steam; and electric power sector use of wood, industrial wood waste and waste gas, and municipal waste for cofiring or as primary fuels to produce electricity. Wood includes wood and wood-derived fuels. Waste is biomass waste which includes municipal solid waste from biogenic sources, landfill gas, sludge waste, agricultural byproducts, etc.

Overall, national consumption in 2010 increased five percent over 2009 (to 2,332 trillion BTUs). However, this remained below consumption levels in 2004 through 2008 (2,510, 2,538, 2,505, 2,511, and 2,480 trillion BTUs, respectively), and it was well below the previous high in 1996 (3,014 trillion BTUs).

Industrial sector consumption declined steadily from 2004 to 2009 (1,608 to 1,352 trillion BTUs), but then in 2010 increased almost nine percent (to 1,470 trillion BTUs). The industrial sector includes combined heat and power and industrial electricity-only plants.

Biomass consumption in the much smaller electric power sector (biopower plants with the primary purpose of producing electricity for the grid) has been growing steadily since 2004 (388 to 459 trillion BTUs).