The history of biomass energy is the oldest energy story we have. It starts with a campfire, runs through steam engines and coal trains, and ends in the corn ethanol in your car's fuel tank.
When Was Biomass Energy Invented?
Nobody invented it. Burning plants for energy began the moment early humans learned to control fire, and scientists have found hearths at least 790,000 years old.
The First Fire
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At a dig in Israel called Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, scientists found more than a dozen old hearths, the fire pits early humans sat around. They're about 790,000 years old.
That fire meant cooked food, warmth at night and light in the dark. Its fuel was wood, dried grass, anything that used to be alive and could burn.
For a long, long time, that was the only energy a human had besides muscle. If you wanted warm, you found wood.
Farming Made It Bigger
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About 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, people started planting crops and keeping animals. They built villages, and suddenly they had something new: farm leftovers.
Crop stalks after the harvest and manure from the animals both burn. So now there were two kinds of fuel, the wood you gathered and the waste from the food you grew.
Where Does The Energy In Biomass Come From?
It comes from the sun. Plants catch sunlight and store it as chemical energy, like a battery that charges while the plant grows.
Scientists call this "photosynthesis", a fancy word for turning sunlight into sugar. Burning wood, which scientists call "combustion", gives some of that stored sunlight back as heat. It's still the most common way to get energy out of biomass.
What Is The Definition Of Biomass?
Biomass is renewable organic material that comes from plants and animals. If it grew, and it can burn or rot, it counts.
What Are The Different Types Of Biomass?
There are four main types, and each one comes from something that once grew:
- Wood, wood pellets, chips and sawdust
- Agricultural crops and waste, like corn, sugar cane and crop leftovers
- Paper, food and yard waste in our trash
- Animal manure and sewage, which can make biogas
From Watermills To Steam Power
Water And Wind Get Involved
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By the Middle Ages, rivers turned big wheels that ground grain into flour, and windmills did the same trick with air.
That isn't biomass, but it's part of the same story: people were learning to put nature to work.
Steam Changes Everything
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Around 1710, Thomas Newcomen built a steam engine that pumped flooded mines dry from 150 feet down or more. It burned huge amounts of coal.
Then James Watt patented a more efficient design in 1769. His engine needed only about a quarter of the fuel, and the age of steam engines took off. You can look inside a steam engine to see the parts.
But in America, wood still did most of the work. It stayed the country's largest source of energy while people moved west, all the way to the late 1800s.
How Coal And Oil Pushed Biomass Aside
Coal Takes The Lead
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Coal packs a lot of heat into a small lump, and trains could haul it anywhere. By 1870, rails crossed the country, and coal jumped from 9% of U.S. energy in 1850 to 27%.
Around 1885, coal passed wood as America's number one energy source. Houses kept their wood stoves, but factories and trains went with coal.
Oil Takes Over From Coal
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Then came oil. In 1950, petroleum passed coal as the most-used energy source in the United States.
Here's a surprise, though. In 1908, Henry Ford designed his Model T to run on a mix of gasoline and alcohol, a fuel made from crops. So biofuels were there from the start of the car age.
Why Biofuels And Biomass Power Came Back
In the 1970s, oil embargoes sent prices up, and people went looking for alternative fuels. Interest in ethanol as a transportation fuel came back.
Today nearly all gasoline sold in the U.S. is about 10% ethanol. The lumber and paper industry burns its wood waste to make electricity, and sewage plants and livestock farms turn waste into biogas. In 2025, biomass gave the United States about 5% of its energy.
Then there's the carbon question. Burning it releases carbon dioxide, just like fossil fuels. But growing crops and trees absorb almost as much as was released, as long as people don't cut forests faster than they grow back.
That's why this renewable energy is back. Not as the only answer, but as one piece of the puzzle. You can see how biomass is used right now, where it's heading next or start with the big picture.
Sources
- Smithsonian Human Origins, How do we know these were hearths?
- National Geographic Education, Domestication
- U.S. EIA, Biomass explained
- National MagLab, Steam condensing engine 1769
- U.S. EIA, The 250-year history of U.S. energy consumption
- U.S. EIA, Ethanol explained
- U.S. EIA, Biomass and the environment
Hard Words
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Biomass | Renewable organic material from plants and animals, like wood, crops and manure. |
| Hearth | The fire pit at the center of an early human camp. |
| Photosynthesis | How plants turn sunlight into sugar, storing the sun's energy inside them. |
| Combustion | The scientific word for burning. |
| Manure | Animal dung. Burned dry as fuel, or used today to make biogas. |
| Watermill | A river-powered wheel that grinds grain or runs machinery. |
| Thomas Newcomen | Englishman who built a steam engine around 1710 to pump water out of mines. |
| James Watt | Scottish engineer who patented a much more fuel-saving steam engine in 1769. |
| Coal | The black rock fuel that passed wood in America around 1885. |
| Oil | The liquid fossil fuel that passed coal in the U.S. in 1950. |
| Ethanol | An alcohol fuel made from crops like corn. |
| Biogas | A gas made from rotting manure, sewage or food waste. It burns like natural gas. |
| Greenhouse gas | A gas like carbon dioxide that traps heat in the atmosphere. |
Common Questions
When was biomass energy invented?
It wasn't invented by one person. It began when early humans learned to control fire, and the oldest hearths found so far are about 790,000 years old.
Did early steam engines burn wood?
Newcomen's mine engines burned coal. In America, though, wood stayed the largest energy source until about 1885.
Why did coal and oil push biomass aside?
They pack more heat into less space and are easy to ship. Coal took the lead in the U.S. around 1885, and oil passed coal in 1950.
Is biomass carbon neutral?
Almost, if it's done right. Burning it releases carbon dioxide, but new growth absorbs almost as much. That only holds when trees aren't cut faster than they grow back.
How much energy does biomass give today?
In 2025, biomass gave the United States about 5% of its energy, as wood, biofuels like ethanol, and biogas.