Traditional biomass accounts for some 9% of the worldâs total energy requirements, still more than is provided by modern renewables collectively. Nonetheless, modern renewables, and modern biomass with it, is catching up fast. The share of traditional biomass fuels has remained fairly static over the last decade or two, while modern renewables have soared.
The EU is by far the biggest pellet consumer worldwide, burning some 15 million tonnes in 2012. According the latest available figures from Aebiom, the European biomass energy association, biomass accounted for 8.4 percent of the total final energy consumption in Europe in 2011, while in some Baltic countries, such as Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Sweden, the figure is above 25 percent. The trade group adds that EU pellet consumption for heating has grown by more than one million t per year since 2010.Looking ahead, in a recent Aebiom forecast scenario, in 2020 the overall share of renewable energy in Europe will have reached 20.7 percent, with biomass, including transport, covering 56.5 percent of total energy.Their analysis of the European Member State National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) concludes that the total contribution of bioenergy in 2020 will be 138.3 Mtoe, with heating by far the most important sector - accounting for 65 percent of the total while transport accounts for 21 percent and electricity 14 percent.