Biomass provides 16% of the energy for heating and cooling in the EU

In 2014, the contribution of renewable energies reached 16% according to the 2016 Statistical Report on the development of bioenergy in the EurOPEA Union that the EurOPEA Biomass Association (AEBIOM) annually prepares. At that time, bioenergy represented 61% of all renewable energy consumed, which is equivalent to 10% of the gross final consumption of energy in EurOPA. And the volume of business generated around biomass in the EU reached in 2014 the figure of the 55,000 million eur, which represents an increase of 32% compared to 2010, according to EurObserv'er.

Energy consumption in the EU in heating and cooling is around 50% of the total. 82% of that energy consumption is covered using fossil fuels, 16% with biomass and the remaining 2% with other renewable energies. For this reason, bioenergy and renewable energies are becoming a key priority for the policy of building buildings in the EU. Renewable energies are becoming a key priority for EU policy, specifically in buildings. Bioenergy is currently leader among renewables for thermal use with 88% of heating and cooling uses, which represents 16% of the gross final consumption europeo of energy.

And it is very important to highlight that contrary to common belief, EU-28 forests have been growing continuously during the last decades. In 1990, the eurOpeos forests accumulated 19.7 billion m³, and in 2015, they reached 26,000 million m³, which means an increase of 34% during the last quarter of a century, which coincides with the years in which the biomass is being used technically (pellets and splints) as a source of renewable energy. According to EurOstat, in the EU-28 the forests won 322,800 hectares per year, which is equivalent to a growth of a football field per minute.