ABSTRACT
The world today is facing severe energy crisis due to industrialization and economic development on one hand and growing world population on the other. This growing energy demand is to be met in an environmental friendly manner with less pollution and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Solar, wind, and biomass based technologies are being developed along with efficient and advanced energy technologies to effectively utilize the non renewable energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas fuels. Biomass and municipal solid waste (MSW) based energy systems are receiving a great deal of attention to meet part of the growing energy demand because of their additional benefit in reducing global warming. Co-firing of biomass refuses derived fuel (RDF) in existing or in new coal fired power plants is an important option to reduce global warming. Cogeneration systems are notable due to their overall high energy utilization efficiency and reduced pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. So based on the current global scenario, there is a need to focus on all possible energy sources to meet the energy requirement. This chapter presents details on biomass, MSW energy systems and cogeneration systems as well as its possible contribution to power generation. The biomass based energy systems and cogeneration systems will continue their
importance in future as well since it offers high energy conversion efficiencies to meet the increasing global energy demand. The exergy analysis is receiving attention to analyze various energy systems to identify the sources of irreversibility. The exergy analysis and the benefits associated with exergy analysis are another topic of study of this chapter. The importance of biomass, MSW based co-firing power generation and cogeneration systems are also dealt with.
