Biomass such as agricultural and forestry residues, animal manure and municipal solid wastes can be a replenishable and widely available source of energy. Harnessing this resource can have significant energy and environmental benefits.
Messages for Policy
Maximizing either net energy or emissions reduction from waste-to-energy generation would lead to better utilization of wastes and residues relative to simply maximizing the quantity of renewable energy.
National-scale mandates on specific types of bioenergy or biofuels could lead to inefficient use of biomass resources.
Complementing renewable fuel targets with GHG taxes or life cycle emissions-based performance standards would lead to better outcomes in terms of clean energy production and emissions reduction.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Further Reading
Rajagopal, D. & Zilberman, D. Environmental, economic and policy aspects of biofuels. Found. Trends Microecon. 4, 353–468 (2008). Provides a comprehensive review of the environmental, economic and policy literature on biofuels at the peak of the biofuel renaissance of the 2000s.
Campbell, J. E. & Block, E. Land-use and alternative bioenergy pathways for waste biomass. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44, 8665–8669 (2010). Analyzes the alternative uses of biomass residues with respect to environmental and energy security outcomes and highlights the role of electricity inputs and avoided emissions in determining the best use of biomass.
Tonini, D., Hamelin, L., Alvarado-Morales, M. & Astrup, T. F. GHG emission factors for bioelectricity, biomethane, and bioethanol quantified for 24 biomass substrates with consequential life-cycle assessment. Bioresour. Technol. 208, 123–133 (2016). Estimates greenhouse gas emission factors for bioethanol, biomethane and bioelectricity derived from different biomass resources.
Acknowledgements
This study would not have been possible without financial support from the UCLA Grand Challenges—Sustainable LA programme.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rajagopal, D., Liu, B. The United States can generate up to 3.2 EJ of energy annually from waste. Nat Energy 5, 18–19 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0532-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0532-x
This article is cited by
-
Selective and effective oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural by tuning the intermediates adsorption on Co-Cu-CNx
Nano Research (2023)
-
Pretreatment methods of lignocellulosic wastes into value-added products: recent advances and possibilities
Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (2022)