Biomass – towards sustainable use of finite resources

Biomass is all around us. In daily life, we encounter renewable resources everywhere in many diverse forms. Biomass is used to produce food, paper goods, bioplastics and textiles and is also the main feedstock in the production of biofuels, which now account for 80% of the world’s total supply of renewable energies.

There is a reason for the frequent utilisation of biomass: it has a very wide range of applications and is seemingly infinitely available since it can be regrown. Nevertheless, a degree of caution is required when considering the various advantages of these versatile raw materials. Cultivating energy crops for conversion into biogas or biofuels, for example, appears to offer the prospect of a reduction in carbon emissions from the heat and transport sectors. However, this directly competes with food production – in Germany and worldwide.