Bioenergy

This article is about the physical energy derived from biological sources. For the idea that all living things contain a "bioenergy" of a spiritual nature, see energy (esotericism).

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Stirling engine capable of producing electricity from biomass combustion heat.

Renewable energy
Biofuel Biomass Geothermal Hydroelectricity Solar energy Tidal power Wave power Wind power
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Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. Biomass is any organic material which has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. As a fuel it may include wood, wood waste, straw, manure, sugarcane, and many other byproducts from a variety of agricultural processes. By 2010, there was 35GW of globally installed bioenergy capacity for electricity generation, of which 7GW was in the US.^[1]
In its most narrow sense it is a synonym to biofuel, which is fuel derived from biological sources. In its broader sense it includes biomass, the biological material used as a biofuel, as well as the social, economic, scientific and technical fields associated with using biological sources for energy. This is a common misconception, as bioenergy is the energy extracted from the biomass, as the biomass is the fuel and the bioenergy is the energy contained in the fuel.^[2]
There is a slight tendency for the word bioenergy to be favoured in Europe compared with biofuel in North America.^{[citation needed]}