AP Environmental Science Flashcards: Energy from Biomass
Written by AP Content Team, Verified for 2026 AP Exams, Last updated: May 2026
Review key ideas with interactive flashcards. This set includes 10 cards to help you master important concepts.
What is a primary economic advantage of using biomass for energy?
Biomass can be burned to produce heat for energy at a relatively low cost.
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What is a primary economic advantage of using biomass for energy?
Biomass can be burned to produce heat for energy at a relatively low cost.
Summarize the key trade-offs of using ethanol as a fuel.
The main trade-off is between its benefit of not adding new carbon to the atmosphere and its major drawback of having a low energy return on energy investment.
What is the relationship between biomass fuel and deforestation?
The overharvesting of trees to be used as biomass fuel is a direct cause of deforestation.
List the main air pollutants produced by burning biomass.
The combustion of biomass produces carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates, and volatile organic compounds.
What are the primary environmental drawbacks of generating power from biomass?
Burning biomass releases air pollutants like carbon dioxide and particulates, and the overharvesting of trees for fuel can cause deforestation.
Explain the major disadvantage of ethanol related to its energy efficiency.
Ethanol has a low energy return on energy investment, meaning a large amount of energy is required to produce it relative to the energy it provides.
What is a common application of ethanol as a biofuel?
Ethanol can be used as a substitute for gasoline in vehicles.
How does the carbon impact of burning ethanol differ from burning fossil fuels?
Burning ethanol does not introduce additional carbon into the atmosphere because the carbon released was recently captured by the plants it was made from.
A developing nation increases its reliance on burning wood for heat and cooking. What negative environmental effects might result?
This could lead to increased local air pollution from particulates and nitrogen oxides, as well as deforestation from overharvesting trees.
Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROEI)
This is a ratio comparing the amount of energy obtained from a source to the amount of energy expended to produce it; for ethanol, this ratio is low.