Bioenergy

Renewable energy made from biomass

This article is about technology aspects to produce a type of renewable energy. For production of biomass for bioenergy generation, see biomass (energy).

This article may be unbalanced toward certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (May 2023)

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A CHP power station using wood to supply 30,000 households in France with bioenergy as a renewable energy source

Sugarcane plantation to produce ethanol for bioenergy production in Brazil

Bioenergy is a type of renewable energy that is derived from plants and animal waste.[1] The biomass that is used as input materials consists of recently living (but now dead) organisms, mainly plants.[2] Thus, fossil fuels are not regarded as biomass under this definition. Types of biomass commonly used for bioenergy include wood, food crops such as corn, energy crops and waste from forests, yards, or farms.[3]

Bioenergy can help with climate change mitigation but in some cases the required biomass production can increase greenhouse gas emissions or lead to local biodiversity loss. The environmental impacts of biomass production can be problematic, depending on how the biomass is produced and harvested. But it still produces CO2; so long as the energy is derived from breaking chemical bonds.

The IEA's Net Zero by 2050 scenario calls for traditional bioenergy to be phased out by 2030, with modern bioenergy's share increasing from 6.6% in 2020 to 13.1% in 2030 and 18.7% in 2050.[4] Bioenergy has a significant climate change mitigation potential if implemented correctly.[5]: 637 Most of the recommended pathways to limit global warming include substantial contributions from bioenergy in 2050 (average at 200 EJ).[6]: B 7.4

## Definition and terminology

[edit]

See also: Biomass (energy) § Terminology, and Biofuel § Terminology

The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report defines bioenergy as "energy derived from any form of biomass or its metabolic by-products".[7]: 1795 It goes on to define biomass in this context as "organic material excluding the material that is fossilised or embedded in geological formations".[7]: 1795 This means that coal or other fossil fuels is not a form of biomass in this context.

The term traditional biomass for bioenergy means "the combustion of wood, charcoal, agricultural residues and/or animal dung for cooking or heating in open fires or in inefficient stoves as is common in low-income countries".[7]: 1796

Since biomass can also be used as a fuel directly (e.g. wood logs), the terms biomass and biofuel have sometimes been used interchangeably. However, the term biomass usually denotes the biological raw material the fuel is made of. The terms biofuel or biogas are generally reserved for liquid or gaseous fuels respectively.[8]

## Input materials

[edit]

Main article: Biomass (energy)

Biomass plant in Scotland.

Wood and wood residues is the largest biomass energy source today. Wood can be used as a fuel directly or processed into pellet fuel or other forms of fuels. Other plants can also be used as fuel, for instance maize, switchgrass, miscanthus and bamboo.[9] The main waste feedstocks are wood waste, agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, and manufacturing waste. Upgrading raw biomass to higher grade fuels can be achieved by different methods, broadly classified as thermal, chemical, or biochemical:

Thermal conversion processes use heat as the dominant mechanism to upgrade biomass into a better and more practical fuel. The basic alternatives are torrefaction, pyrolysis, and gasification, these are separated mainly by the extent to which the chemical reactions involved are allowed to proceed (mainly controlled by the availability of oxygen and conversion temperature).[10]

Many chemical conversions are based on established coal-based processes, such as the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.[11] Like coal, biomass can be converted into multiple commodity chemicals.[12]

Biochemical processes have developed in nature to break down the molecules of which biomass is composed, and many of these can be harnessed. In most cases, microorganisms are used to perform the conversion. The processes are called anaerobic digestion, fermentation, and composting.[13]

## Applications

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### Biomass for heating

[edit]

This section is an excerpt from Biomass heating system.[edit]

Wood chips in a storage hopper, in the middle an agitator to transport the material with a screw conveyor to the boiler Biomass heating systems generate heat from biomass. The systems may use direct combustion, gasification, combined heat and power (CHP), anaerobic digestion or aerobic digestion to produce heat. Biomass heating may be fully automated or semi-automated they may be pellet-fired, or they may be combined heat and power systems .

### Biofuel for transportation

[edit]

Main article: Biofuel

Based on the source of biomass, biofuels are classified broadly into two major categories, depending if food crops are used or not:[14]

First-generation (or "conventional") biofuels are made from food sources grown on arable lands, such as sugarcane and maize. Sugars present in this biomass are fermented to produce bioethanol, an alcohol fuel which serves as an additive to gasoline, or in a fuel cell to produce electricity. Bioethanol is made by fermentation, mostly from carbohydrates produced in sugar or starch crops such as corn, sugarcane, or sweet sorghum. Bioethanol is widely used in the United States and in Brazil. Biodiesel is produced from the oils in for instance rapeseed or sugar beets and is the most common biofuel in Europe.[citation needed]

Second-generation biofuels (also called "advanced biofuels") utilize non-food-based biomass sources such as perennial energy crops and agricultural residues/waste. The feedstock used to make the fuels either grow on arable land but are byproducts of the main crop, or they are grown on marginal land. Waste from industry, agriculture, forestry and households can also be used for second-generation biofuels, using e.g. anaerobic digestion to produce biogas, gasification to produce syngas or by direct combustion. Cellulosic biomass, derived from non-food sources, such as trees and grasses, is being developed as a feedstock for ethanol production, and biodiesel can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats.[citation needed]

### Production of liquid fuels

[edit]

* Biomass to liquid

* Bioconversion of biomass to mixed alcohol fuels

## Comparison with other renewable energy types

[edit]

Eucalyptus plantation in India.

Further information: Renewable energy § Bioenergy

### Land requirement

[edit]

The surface power production densities of a crop will determine how much land is required for production. The average lifecycle surface power densities for biomass, wind, hydro and solar power production are 0.30 W/m2, 1 W/m2, 3 W/m2 and 5 W/m2, respectively (power in the form of heat for biomass, and electricity for wind, hydro and solar).[15] Lifecycle surface power density includes land used by all supporting infrastructure, manufacturing, mining/harvesting and decommissioning.

Another estimate puts the values at 0.08 W/m2 for biomass, 0.14 W/m2 for hydro, 1.84 W/m2 for wind, and 6.63 W/m2 for solar (median values, with none of the renewable sources exceeding 10 W/m2).[16]

## Related technologies

[edit]

### Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)

[edit]

Carbon capture and storage technology can be used to capture emissions from bioenergy power plants. This process is known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and can result in net carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere. However, BECCS can also result in net positive emissions depending on how the biomass material is grown, harvested, and transported. Deployment of BECCS at scales described in some climate change mitigation pathways would require converting large amounts of cropland.[17]

This section is an excerpt from Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.[edit]

Example of BECCS: Diagram of bioenergy power plant with carbon capture and storage.[18]

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is the process of extracting bioenergy from biomass and capturing and storing the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is produced.

Greenhouse gas emissions from bioenergy can be low because when vegetation is harvested for bioenergy, new vegetation can grow that will absorb CO2 from the air through photosynthesis.[19] After the biomass is harvested, energy ("bioenergy") is extracted in useful forms (electricity, heat, biofuels, etc.) as the biomass is utilized through combustion, fermentation, pyrolysis or other conversion methods. Using bioenergy releases CO2. In BECCS, some of the CO2 is captured before it enters the atmosphere, and stored underground using carbon capture and storage technology.[20] Under some conditions, BECCS can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.[20]

The potential range of negative emissions from BECCS was estimated to be zero to 22 gigatonnes per year.[21] As of 2024, there are large-scale 3 BECCS projects operating in the world.[22] Wide deployment of BECCS is constrained by cost and availability of biomass.[23][24]: 10 Since biomass production is land-intensive, deployment of BECCS can pose major risks to food production, human rights, and biodiversity.[25]

## Climate and sustainability aspects

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Further information: Energy crop § Carbon neutrality

Alternative system boundaries for assessing climate effects of forest-based bioenergy. Option 1 (black) considers only the stack emissions; Option 2 (green) considers only the forest carbon stock; Option 3 (blue) considers the bioenergy supply chain; Option 4 (red) covers the whole bioeconomy, including wood products in addition to biomass.[26]

This section is an excerpt from Sustainable energy § Bioenergy.[edit]

The climate impact of bioenergy varies considerably depending on where biomass feedstocks come from and how they are grown.[27] For example, burning wood for energy releases carbon dioxide; those emissions can be significantly offset if the trees that were harvested are replaced by new trees in a well-managed forest, as the new trees will absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they grow.[28] However, the establishment and cultivation of bioenergy crops can displace natural ecosystems, degrade soils, and consume water resources and synthetic fertilisers.[29][30]

Approximately one-third of all wood used for traditional heating and cooking in tropical areas is harvested unsustainably.[31] Bioenergy feedstocks typically require significant amounts of energy to harvest, dry, and transport; the energy usage for these processes may emit greenhouse gases. In some cases, the impacts of land-use change, cultivation, and processing can result in higher overall carbon emissions for bioenergy compared to using fossil fuels.[30][32]

Use of farmland for growing biomass can result in less land being available for growing food. In the United States, around 10% of motor gasoline has been replaced by corn-based ethanol, which requires a significant proportion of the harvest.[33][34] In Malaysia and Indonesia, clearing forests to produce palm oil for biodiesel has led to serious social and environmental effects, as these forests are critical carbon sinks and habitats for diverse species.[35][36] Since photosynthesis captures only a small fraction of the energy in sunlight, producing a given amount of bioenergy requires a large amount of land compared to other renewable energy sources.[37]

## Environmental impacts

[edit]

Main article: Biomass (energy) § Environmental impact

Bioenergy can either mitigate (i.e. reduce) or increase greenhouse gas emissions. Local environmental impacts can be problematic. For example, forests are sometimes cleared for the production of sugarcane-derived bioethanol, like in the case of a large-scale project in Indonesia in 2025.[38]

Biomass production can create significant social and environmental pressure in the locations where the biomass is produced.[39] The impact is primarily related to the low surface power density of biomass. The low surface power density has the effect that much larger land areas are needed in order to produce the same amount of energy, compared to for instance fossil fuels.

Long-distance transport of biomass have been criticised as wasteful and unsustainable,[40] and there have been protests against forest biomass export in Sweden[41] and Canada.[42]

## Scale and future trends

[edit]

In 2020 bioenergy produced 58 EJ (exajoules) of energy, compared to 172 EJ from crude oil, 157 EJ from coal, 138 EJ from natural gas, 29 EJ from nuclear, 16 EJ from hydro and 15 EJ from wind, solar and geothermal combined.[43] Most of the global bioenergy is produced from forest resources.[44]: 3 [45]: 1

Generally, bioenergy expansion fell by 50% in 2020. China and Europe are the only two regions that reported significant expansion in 2020, adding 2 GW and 1.2 GW of bioenergy capacity, respectively.[46]

Almost all available sawmill residue is already being utilized for pellet production, so there is no room for expansion. For the bioenergy sector to significantly expand in the future, more of the harvested pulpwood must go to pellet mills. However, the harvest of pulpwood (tree thinnings) removes the possibility for these trees to grow old and therefore maximize their carbon holding capacity.[47]: 19 Compared to pulpwood, sawmill residues have lower net emissions: "Some types of biomass feedstock can be carbon-neutral, at least over a period of a few years, including in particular sawmill residues. These are wastes from other forest operations that imply no additional harvesting, and if otherwise burnt as waste or left to rot would release carbon to the atmosphere in any case."[47]: 68

## By country

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* v
* t
* e

Bioenergy by country

* Armenia
* Austria
* Brazil
* China
* Colombia
* Costa Rica
* India
* Kazakhstan
* Turkey
* Ukraine

## See also

[edit]

* Energy portal
* Renewable energy portal

* Biochar
* Biomass to liquid
* Biorefinery
* European Biomass Association
* Indirect land use change impacts of biofuels

## References

[edit]

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6. ^ IPCC, 2019: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems [P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, E. Calvo Buendia, V. Masson-Delmotte, H.- O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, P. Zhai, R. Slade, S. Connors, R. van Diemen, M. Ferrat, E. Haughey, S. Luz, S. Neogi, M. Pathak, J. Petzold, J. Portugal Pereira, P. Vyas, E. Huntley, K. Kissick, M. Belkacemi, J. Malley, (eds.)]. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157988.001
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18. ^ Sanchez, Daniel L.; Kammen, Daniel M. (2015-09-24). "Removing Harmful Greenhouse Gases from the Air Using Energy from Plants". Frontiers for Young Minds. 3. doi:10.3389/frym.2015.00014. ISSN 2296-6846.
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20. ^ a b National Academies of Sciences, Engineering (2018-10-24). Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda. pp. 10–13\. doi:10.17226/25259. ISBN 978-0-309-48452-7. PMID 31120708. S2CID 134196575. Archived from the original on 2020-05-25. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
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24. ^ Fajardy, Mathilde; Köberle, Alexandre; Mac Dowell, Niall; Fantuzzi, Andrea (2019). "BECCS deployment: a reality check" (PDF). Grantham Institute Imperial College London.
25. ^ Deprez, Alexandra; Leadley, Paul; Dooley, Kate; Williamson, Phil; Cramer, Wolfgang; Gattuso, Jean-Pierre; Rankovic, Aleksandar; Carlson, Eliot L.; Creutzig, Felix (2024-02-02). "Sustainability limits needed for CO 2 removal". Science. 383 (6682): 484–486\. doi:10.1126/science.adj6171. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 38301011. S2CID 267365599.
26. ^ Cowie, Annette L.; Berndes, Göran; Bentsen, Niclas Scott; Brandão, Miguel; Cherubini, Francesco; Egnell, Gustaf; George, Brendan; Gustavsson, Leif; Hanewinkel, Marc; Harris, Zoe M.; Johnsson, Filip; Junginger, Martin; Kline, Keith L.; Koponen, Kati; Koppejan, Jaap (2021). "Applying a science-based systems perspective to dispel misconceptions about climate effects of forest bioenergy". GCB Bioenergy. 13 (8): 1210–1231\. Bibcode:2021GCBBi..13.1210C. doi:10.1111/gcbb.12844. hdl:10044/1/89123. ISSN 1757-1693. S2CID 235792241.
27. ^ Correa, Diego F.; Beyer, Hawthorne L.; Fargione, Joseph E.; Hill, Jason D.; Possingham, Hugh P.; Thomas-Hall, Skye R.; Schenk, Peer M. (June 2019). "Towards the implementation of sustainable biofuel production systems". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 107: 250–263\. Bibcode:2019RSERv.107..250C. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2019.03.005.
28. ^ Daley, Jason (24 April 2018). "The EPA Declared That Burning Wood Is Carbon Neutral. It's Actually a Lot More Complicated". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 June 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
29. ^ Tester et al. 2012, p. 512.
30. ^ a b Smil 2017a, p. 162.
31. ^ World Health Organization 2016, p. 73.
32. ^ IPCC 2014, p. 616.
33. ^ "Biofuels explained: Ethanol". US Energy Information Administration. 18 June 2020. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
34. ^ Foley, Jonathan (5 March 2013). "It's Time to Rethink America's Corn System". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
35. ^ Ayompe, Lacour M.; Schaafsma, M.; Egoh, Benis N. (January 2021). "Towards sustainable palm oil production: The positive and negative impacts on ecosystem services and human wellbeing". Journal of Cleaner Production. 278: 123914. Bibcode:2021JCPro.27823914A. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123914.
36. ^ Lustgarten, Abrahm (20 November 2018). "Palm Oil Was Supposed to Help Save the Planet. Instead It Unleashed a Catastrophe". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
37. ^ Smil 2017a, p. 161.
38. ^ Milko, Victoria (7 April 2025). "World's largest deforestation project fells forests for bioethanol fuel, sugar and rice in Indonesia". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
39. ^ Climate Central 2015.
40. ^ IFL Science 2016.
41. ^ Forest Defenders Alliance 2021.
42. ^ STAND.earth 2021.
43. ^ "Energy Statistics Data Browser – Data Tools". IEA. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
44. ^ WBA (2019) GLOBAL BIOENERGY STATISTICS 2019 World Bioenergy Association
45. ^ European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Brief on biomass for energy in the European Union, Publications Office, 2019
46. ^ "World Adds Record New Renewable Energy Capacity in 2020". /newsroom/pressreleases/2021/Apr/World-Adds-Record-New-Renewable-Energy-Capacity-in-2020. 5 April 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
47. ^ a b Brack, D. (2017) Woody Biomass for Power and Heat Impacts on the Global Climate. Research Paper - Environment, Energy and Resources Department.

### Sources

[edit]

* Pishvaee, Mir Saman; Mohseni, Shayan; Bairamzadeh, Samira (2021). "An overview of biomass feedstocks for biofuel production". Biomass to Biofuel Supply Chain Design and Planning Under Uncertainty. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-820640-9.00001-5. ISBN 978-0-12-820640-9. S2CID 230567249.
* Akhtar, Ali; Krepl, Vladimir; Ivanova, Tatiana (2018-07-05). "A Combined Overview of Combustion, Pyrolysis, and Gasification of Biomass". Energy & Fuels. 32 (7). American Chemical Society (ACS): 7294–7318\. doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b01678. ISSN 0887-0624. S2CID 105089787.
* Liu, Guangjian; Larson, Eric D.; Williams, Robert H.; Kreutz, Thomas G.; Guo, Xiangbo (2011-01-20). "Making Fischer−Tropsch Fuels and Electricity from Coal and Biomass: Performance and Cost Analysis". Energy & Fuels. 25 (1). American Chemical Society (ACS): 415–437\. doi:10.1021/ef101184e. ISSN 0887-0624.
* National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2019). Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda. doi:10.17226/25259. ISBN 978-0-309-48452-7. PMID 31120708. S2CID 134196575. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020.
* Climate Central (2015-10-23). "Pulp Fiction, The Series". Retrieved 2022-02-12.
* IFL Science (2016-03-14). "British Power Stations Are Burning Wood From US Forests – To Meet Renewables Target". IFLScience.
* Forest Defenders Alliance (2021). "Standing up for forests and against the Swedish forestry model: A letter to EC policymakers".
* STAND.earth (2021-03-23). "Risk Map: Primary forest and threatened caribou habitat overlap with preliminary estimated wood pellet haul zones for Pinnacle/Drax in British Columbia".
* Tester, Jefferson W.; Drake, Elisabeth M.; Driscoll, Michael J.; Golay, Michael W.; Peters, William A. (2012). Sustainable Energy: Choosing Among Options. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01747-3. OCLC 892554374.
* Smil, Vaclav (2017a). Energy Transitions: Global and National Perspectives. Praeger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-5324-1. OCLC 955778608.
* IPCC (2014). Edenhofer, O.; Pichs-Madruga, R.; Sokona, Y.; Farahani, E.; et al. (eds.). Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change: Working Group III contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-05821-7. OCLC 892580682. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017.
* World Health Organization (2016). Burning Opportunity: Clean Household Energy for Health, Sustainable Development, and Wellbeing of Women and Children (PDF). ISBN 978-92-4-156523-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 June 2021.

* v
* t
* e

Bioenergy

Biofuels|

* Alcohol
* Algae
* Babassu oil
* Bagasse
* Biobutanol
* Biodiesel
* Biogas
* Biogasoline
* Bioliquids
* Biomass
* Cooking oil
* vegetable oil
* Ethanol
* cellulosic
* mixtures
* Methanol
* Stover
* corn
* Straw
* Water hyacinth
* Wood gas

Energy from
foodstock|

* Camelina sativa
* Cassava
* Coconut oil
* Grape
* Hemp
* Maize
* Oat
* Palm oil
* Potato
* Rapeseed
* Rice
* Sorghum
* Soybean
* Sugar beet
* Sugarcane
* Sunflower
* Wheat
* Yam

Non-food
energy crops|

* Arundo
* Big bluestem
* Camelina
* Chinese tallow
* Duckweed
* Jatropha curcas
* Miscanthus × giganteus
* Pongamia pinnata
* Salicornia
* Switchgrass
* Wood

Technology|

* Bioconversion of biomass to mixed alcohol fuels
* Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage
* Biomass heating systems
* Biorefinery
* Fischer–Tropsch process
* Industrial biotechnology
* Pellet fuel
* mill
* stove
* Sabatier reaction
* Thermal depolymerization

Concepts|

* Agflation
* Cellulosic ethanol commercialization
* Energy content of biofuel
* Energy crop
* Energy forestry
* Energy return on investment
* Food vs. fuel
* Issues relating to biofuels
* Sustainable biofuel

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Electricity delivery

Concepts|

* Automatic generation control
* Backfeeding
* Base load
* Demand factor
* Droop speed control
* Electric power
* Electric power quality
* Electrical fault
* Energy demand management
* Energy return on investment
* Grid code
* Grid energy storage
* Grid strength
* Home energy storage
* Load-following
* Merit order
* Nameplate capacity
* Peak demand
* Power factor
* Power-flow study
* Power system reliability
* Repowering
* Utility frequency
* Variability
* Vehicle-to-grid

Sources|

| Non-renewable|

* Fossil fuel power station
* Coal
* Natural gas
* Oil shale
* Petroleum
* Nuclear

|

Renewable|

* Biofuel
* Biogas
* Biomass
* Geothermal
* Hydro
* Marine
* Current
* Osmotic
* Thermal
* Tidal
* Wave
* Solar
* Sustainable biofuel
* Wind

Generation|

* AC power
* Cogeneration
* Combined cycle
* Cooling tower
* Dispatchable
* Energy storage
* Battery
* Induction generator
* Inertial response
* Inverter-based resource
* Micro CHP
* Microgeneration
* Rankine cycle
* Three-phase electric power
* Virtual power plant

Transmission
and distribution

* Ancillary services
* Balancing authority
* Contingency (electrical grid)
* Demand response
* Distributed generation
* Dynamic demand
* Electric power distribution
* Electric power system
* Electric power transmission
* Electrical busbar system
* Electrical grid
* Electricity retailing
* Grid balancing
* High-voltage direct current
* High-voltage shore connection
* Interconnector
* Load management
* Mains electricity by country
* Overhead power line
* Conductor gallop
* Power station
* Pumped hydro
* Single-wire earth return
* Smart grid
* Substation
* Super grid
* Transformer
* Transmission system operator (TSO)
* Transmission tower
* Utility pole
* Voltage control and reactive power management

Failure modes|

* Black start
* Brownout
* Cascading failure
* Islanding
* Power outage
* List
* Rolling blackout

Protective
devices

* Arc-fault circuit interrupter
* Circuit breaker
* Earth-leakage
* Sulfur hexafluoride
* Generator interlock kit
* Numerical relay
* Power system protection
* Protective relay
* Residual-current device (GFI)

Economics
and policies

* Availability factor
* Capacity factor
* Carbon offsets and credits
* Cost of electricity by source
* Energy subsidies
* Environmental tax
* Feed-in tariff
* Fossil fuel phase-out
* Load factor
* Net metering
* Pigouvian tax
* Renewable Energy Certificates
* Renewable energy commercialization
* Renewable Energy Payments
* Spark/Dark/Quark/Bark spread

Statistics and
production

* Electric energy consumption
* List of electricity sectors

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Climate change

Overview

* Causes of climate change
* Effects of climate change
* Climate change mitigation
* Climate change adaptation
* By country and region

Causes

| Overview|

* Climate system
* Greenhouse effect (Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere)
* Scientific consensus on climate change

|

Sources|

* Deforestation
* Fossil fuel
* Greenhouse gases
* Greenhouse gas emissions
* Carbon accounting
* Carbon footprint
* Carbon leakage
* from agriculture
* from wetlands
* World energy supply and consumption

History

* History of climate change policy and politics
* History of climate change science
* Svante Arrhenius
* James Hansen
* Charles David Keeling
* United Nations Climate Change conferences
* Years in climate change
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024

Effects and issues

| Physical|

* Abrupt climate change
* Anoxic event
* Arctic methane emissions
* Arctic sea ice decline
* Atlantic meridional overturning circulation
* Drought
* Extreme weather
* Flood
* Coastal flooding
* Heat wave
* Marine
* Urban heat island
* Oceans
* acidification
* deoxygenation
* heat content
* sea surface temperature
* stratification
* temperature
* Ozone depletion
* Permafrost thaw
* Retreat of glaciers since 1850
* Sea level rise
* Season creep
* Climate sensitivity
* Tipping points in the climate system
* Tropical cyclones
* Water cycle
* Wildfires

|

Flora and fauna|

* Biomes
* Mass mortality event
* Birds
* Extinction risk
* Forest dieback
* Invasive species
* Marine life
* Plant biodiversity

Social and economic|

* Agriculture
* Livestock
* Multi-breadbasket failure
* United States
* Children
* Cities
* Civilizational collapse
* Crime
* Depopulation of settlements
* Destruction of cultural heritage
* Disability
* Economic impacts
* U.S. insurance industry
* Fisheries
* Gender
* Health
* Mental health
* Human rights
* Indigenous peoples
* Infectious diseases
* Migration
* Poverty
* Psychological impacts
* Security and conflict
* Urban flooding
* Water scarcity
* Water security

By country and region|

* Africa
* Americas
* Antarctica
* Arctic
* Asia
* Australia
* Caribbean
* Europe
* Middle East and North Africa
* Small island countries
* by individual country

Mitigation

| Economics and finance|

* Carbon budget
* Carbon emission trading
* Carbon offsets and credits
* Gold Standard (carbon offset standard)
* Carbon price
* Carbon tax
* Climate debt
* Climate finance
* Climate risk insurance
* Co-benefits of climate change mitigation
* Economics of climate change mitigation
* Fossil fuel divestment
* Green Climate Fund
* Low-carbon economy
* Net zero emissions

|

Energy|

* Carbon capture and storage
* Energy transition
* Fossil fuel phase-out
* Nuclear power
* Renewable energy
* Sustainable energy

Preserving and enhancing
carbon sinks|

* Blue carbon
* Carbon dioxide removal
* Carbon sequestration
* Direct air capture
* Carbon farming
* Climate-smart agriculture
* Forest management
* afforestation
* forestry for carbon sequestration
* REDD and REDD+
* reforestation
* Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF and AFOLU)
* Nature-based solutions

Other|

* Individual action on climate change
* Geoengineering

Society and adaptation

| Society|

* Business action
* Climate action
* Climate emergency declaration
* Climate movement
* School Strike for Climate
* Denial
* Ecological grief
* Governance
* Justice
* Litigation
* Politics
* Public opinion
* Women

|

Adaptation|

* Adaptation strategies on the German coast
* Adaptive capacity
* Disaster risk reduction
* Ecosystem-based adaptation
* Flood control
* Loss and damage
* Managed retreat
* Nature-based solutions
* Resilience
* Risk
* Vulnerability
* The Adaptation Fund
* National Adaptation Programme of Action

Communication|

* Climate Change Performance Index
* Climate crisis (term)
* Climate spiral
* Education
* Media coverage
* Popular culture depictions
* art
* fiction
* video games
* Warming stripes

International agreements|

* Glasgow Climate Pact
* Kyoto Protocol
* Paris Agreement
* Cooperative Mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
* Nationally determined contributions
* Sustainable Development Goal 13
* United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Background and theory

| Measurements|

* Global surface temperature
* Instrumental temperature record
* Proxy
* Satellite temperature measurement

|

Theory|

* Albedo
* Carbon cycle
* atmospheric
* biologic
* oceanic
* permafrost
* Carbon sink
* Climate sensitivity
* Climate variability and change
* Cloud feedback
* Cloud forcing
* Fixed anvil temperature hypothesis
* Cryosphere
* Earth's energy budget
* Extreme event attribution
* Feedbacks
* Global warming potential
* Illustrative model of greenhouse effect on climate change
* Orbital forcing
* Radiative forcing

Research and modelling|

* Climate change scenario
* Climate model
* Coupled Model Intercomparison Project
* Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
* IPCC Sixth Assessment Report
* Paleoclimatology
* Representative Concentration Pathway
* Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

* Climate change portal
* Category
* Glossary
* Index

Authority control databases

National|

* Germany

Other|

* Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine

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