Unlike fossil fuels, biomass is renewable in the sense that only a short period of time is needed to replace what is used as
an energy resource. Biomass also is the only renewable energy source that releases carbon dioxide in use. However the
release is compensated by the fact that the biomass grown uses the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to store energy during photosynthesis. If the biomass resource is being used sustainably, there are no net carbon emissions over the time
frame of a cycle of biomass production. Figure 1 shows a biomass energy cycle and the way biomass is utilized for
energy generation in an environmentally friendly scheme