Unless you live on a new lava flow or sand dune, biomass is all around you. This ancient form of renewable energy is a good place to start as we navigate towards our future leveraging renewable energy.Biomass energy is energy derived from a recently living plant (or algal) material such as wood, grass, sugar cane, and corn. As with many renewable energy sources, biomass energy can be sustainable and efficient when the source can be naturally replenished in a reasonable timeframe with reasonable environmental consequences. To measure sustainability, the energy captured from its use needs to outweigh the energy expended growing, harvesting, and processing it. Thus, minimally processed biomass, where little to no effort was wasted in its cultivation, is usually (given similar energy outputs) more efficient than when cultivation and processing are needed.Biomass can be burned with minimal processing (wood in a fireplace or boiler), can be processed (wood chips or pellets) and then burned or converted into an alcohol based fuel and burned in boilers or combustion engines.Much of the world currently uses biomass energy like burning wood for household heating and cooking. In northern New Mexico, (where I currently live), over 50% of house-holds burn wood for heating, cooking, or both. This wood comes from woodlands and forests, often on public land.Is this sustainable? Are we burning more than will be naturally replenished? A brief glance at the recent past in New Mexico by ecologists and natural historians re-veals that some of our woodlands, prior to modern energy sources, were over harvested for fuelwood (wood burned for heat energy). The potential for unsustainable use is definitely there and the precautionary principle is very applicable when relying on biomass, especially if we plan on increasing our reliance on it.In addition to the existing demands on woodlands and forests for fuelwood, timber, and other forest products, energy experts are also looking to forests for large scale biomass energy production. Yet, they also explore other options, burning wood waste in addition to cutting down standing trees.I recently discussed these issues with the Director of the New Mexico Forest Industry Association, Naomi Engelman. Engelman first looked to Europe to learn about large scale biomass efforts. Briefly, Austria has over 1000 biomass fired district heating sys-tems in operation, and Sweden generates much of its formidable renewable energy portfolio – greater than 50% renewable – from forest based biomass. She informed me that in the US, bio-energy is on the rise.Oglethorpe Power Corporation plans to build as many as three 100-megawatt electric generating facilities in Georgia. These are expected to burn wood waste from pine plantations and related businesses. Snowflake, Arizona has a modest 24 megawatt facility that burns wood waste, and there are plans for three more facilities in the state. Austin, Texas has ambitious plans for a 100 mega-watt facility to burn wood waste.Interestingly, Engelman mentioned that there are more than 200 biomass plants in the country which produce more electricity than solar and wind projects combined! For bio-mass, sustainable and efficient are attainable. How does biomass fare in terms of its carbon footprint? Check back on Wednesday to see what kind of carbon footprint biomass generates.