What are bio-energy crops?
Growing bio-energy crops are a new way of agriculture which sustains the environment by not only increasing biodiversity but also reducing the greenhouse gases that are found in the atmosphere due to chemical pesticides and herbicides.
Biodiversity in the case of bio-energy crops takes into consideration the overall environmental factors that affect pollination, consumption of methane gas, the measure of microbes and insect population, and also the birds in and near such farmlands. Bio-energy crops play a significant role in enhancing the whole ecosystem that includes all these factors.
Since such plants can produce large amounts of biomass and having increased energy potential, they are encouraged. They also require marginal soil to be grown. The most commonly grown plants, such as maize and corn are encouraged to be grown in such a setting because compared to other crops, much less pesticide is needed, and it has been found that there was increased bird pollination found on such fields. The number of sightings of different species of birds has increased in such crop areas.
Enhancing the ecosystem is one advantage. Another advantage is that the waste produced by bio-energy crops is used heavily to produce bio-energy. Bio-energy is a great alternative to using fossil fuels, such as petroleum. Biofuels can be produced from the biomass and it is easily usable for powering vehicles.
Planting more bio-energy crops, such as wheat grass, elephant grass, poplar, willow, and corn are all very promising and have a great role to play in increasing biodiversity and sustaining the environment. This is the most viable option and most cost-effective compared to using other alternatives, such as coal, which is a non-renewable source of energy.