This is the 2nd version of the key publication that aims to improve the current data on bioenergy.
Renewable energy sources are growing and so is bioenergy! The biomass supply globally was 56.2 EJ. During 2010 – 2012, the biomass supply increased by 2.3 EJ – highest among all renewables (solar – 0.23EJ, wind – 0.65 EJ). Leading countries in renewables like Brazil, India, Sweden and China have high biomass share.
In agriculture sector, the high potential of residues is estimated at 123 EJ. Also, increasing productivity in cultivating maize, rice and wheat reduced land use by 120 million ha in 12 years.
In 2012, the electricity production from biomass was 439 TWh; heat from biomass was 44.7 EJ while biofuel production reached 105 billion litres. Protein production is crucial and 45% of land used for biofuels went for producing protein.
Pellets sector is growing rapidly with production increasing to 27 million tonnes. Biogas production reached 56-million m3 and charcoal production increased to 52 million tonnes.
More efforts are needed to improve the statistics, as there is still a serious lack of accurate data.
