Bioenergy and Biofuels

Biofuels are fuels produced from biomass and organic matter, which can be made from crops such as cereals or sugarcane, wood, grasses, or biological waste such as animal fats and oils.

生物燃料是由生物质和有机物生产的燃料，可以由谷物或甘蔗等作物、木材、草或动物脂肪和油等生物废物制成。

These biomass sources can be converted into energy supplies in various ways.

这些生物质来源可以通过多种方式转化为能源供应。

They can, for example, be burned to produce electricity in a power plant.

例如，它们可以在发电厂燃烧发电。

They can also be processed into liquid fuels and used in cars, trucks, and planes.

它们还可以加工成液体燃料并用于汽车、卡车和飞机。

It’s these two “modern” applications that the data and research on this page focus on.

本页的数据和研究重点关注的是这两个“现代”应用程序。

This page focuses on what is called modern bioenergy .

本页重点介绍所谓的现代生物能源。

Traditional bioenergy , which is the direct burning of wood, crops, and other biological waste, remains a primary source of energy for cooking and heating for billions of people.

传统生物能源，即直接燃烧木材、农作物和其他生物废物，仍然是数十亿人做饭和取暖的主要能源。

That is covered separately in our work on Energy Access .

我们的能源获取工作对此进行了单独讨论。

Electricity can be generated from biomass using various methods.

可以使用多种方法从生物质中产生电力。

The most common method is combustion: biomass, such as wood pellets, wood chips, and forest residues, is burned in a power plant, just like you’d do with coal.

最常见的方法是燃烧：生物质，如木颗粒、木片和森林残留物，在发电厂中燃烧，就像燃烧煤炭一样。

This creates steam, which turns a turbine, and this generates power.

这会产生蒸汽，蒸汽驱动涡轮机，从而产生电力。

Bioenergy accounts for a relatively small share of the world’s electricity, but, as we’ll see, in some countries, it’s a substantial source of power.

生物能源在世界电力中所占的份额相对较小，但正如我们将看到的，在一些国家，它是一种重要的电力来源。

The chart below shows bioenergy’s share of the global electricity mix.

下图显示了生物能源在全球电力结构中所占的份额。

In 2000, it produced around 1% of the world’s electricity.

2000年，它生产了世界大约1%的电力。

This doubled over the next two decades, but has stagnated at just over 2% in the last five years.

在接下来的二十年里这一数字翻了一番，但在过去五年里一直停滞在 2% 多一点。

In comparison to other sources of electricity, the growth of bioenergy has been relatively slow.

与其他电力来源相比，生物能源的增长相对缓慢。

It took almost 20 years for its share to increase one percentage point, from 1% to 2%.

其份额用了近20年的时间才增加了一个百分点，从1%上升到2%。

Solar power is now growing its share by more than one percentage point every year.

太阳能发电的份额目前每年增长超过一个百分点。

Some countries get a substantial share of their electricity from bioenergy.

一些国家的大部分电力来自生物能源。

The map below shows the distribution across the world.

下图显示了世界各地的分布情况。

Luxembourg generates almost one-third from biomass.

卢森堡近三分之一的发电量来自生物质。

In Uruguay, Estonia, and Denmark, around one-fifth.

乌拉圭、爱沙尼亚和丹麦约占五分之一。

Bioenergy is much more common in Europe and South America than in other regions, for several reasons.

出于多种原因，生物能源在欧洲和南美洲比其他地区更为普遍。

Many countries in Europe had existing or older coal plant infrastructure; these could be easily retrofitted to use biomass instead of coal.

欧洲许多国家都有现有或较旧的燃煤电厂基础设施；这些可以很容易地进行改造，以使用生物质代替煤炭。

Several, including Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Latvia, also have large forestry sectors that produce wood residues and lower-grade wood, which could be diverted towards electricity production.

包括芬兰、瑞典、爱沙尼亚和拉脱维亚在内的一些国家也拥有大型林业部门，生产木材残留物和低级木材，这些木材可以转用于电力生产。

Bioenergy has made up a substantial share of their electricity generation for decades, so this is not a recent change.

几十年来，生物能源在发电中占据了相当大的份额，因此这并不是最近的变化。

Policies in the European Union — where biomass is counted as a renewable source — have often encouraged a switch to bioenergy through subsidies and feed-in tariffs.

欧盟的政策——生物质被视为可再生能源——经常通过补贴和上网电价补贴鼓励转向生物能源。

South America — as we’ll soon see — produces a lot of liquid biofuels for transport.

我们很快就会看到，南美洲生产大量用于运输的液体生物燃料。

In an effort to reduce their dependence on oil, several countries in South America have implemented large-scale programs to promote the production of bioethanol.

为了减少对石油的依赖，南美洲的几个国家实施了大规模的计划来促进生物乙醇的生产。

The most notable is the “Proálcool” program in Brazil.

最引人注目的是巴西的“Proálcool”计划。

Sugarcane is their primary biofuel crop, and it leaves behind a fibrous residue that can be used for electricity production.

甘蔗是他们的主要生物燃料作物，它留下的纤维残留物可用于发电。

We send two regular newsletters so you can stay up to date on our work and receive curated highlights from across Our World in Data.

我们定期发送两份时事通讯，以便您及时了解我们的工作并接收来自“我们的数据世界”的精选亮点。

Biofuels are also produced in liquid form and used as fuel in transport.

生物燃料也以液体形式生产并用作运输燃料。

As we’ll see, most of this biofuel comes from growing crops, such as corn, sugarcane, oil palm, and soybeans.

正如我们将看到的，大部分生物燃料来自种植作物，如玉米、甘蔗、油棕和大豆。

Waste cooking oil and animal fats are also used to produce liquid fuels.

废食用油和动物脂肪也用于生产液体燃料。

Today, most liquid biofuels are used in road transport.

如今，大多数液体生物燃料用于公路运输。

They can be blended with petrol or diesel at various concentrations, displacing some oil from the energy mix.

它们可以与不同浓度的汽油或柴油混合，从而取代能源混合物中的一些石油。

But increasingly, they are promoted as a potential solution to decarbonizing sectors such as aviation or shipping.

但它们越来越多地被宣传为航空或航运等脱碳行业的潜在解决方案。

Liquid biofuels have grown dramatically over the past few decades.

液体生物燃料在过去几十年中急剧增长。

As you can see in the chart below, global production has grown sevenfold in the last 20 years.

如下图所示，过去 20 年全球产量增长了七倍。

This has been driven by policies in a few key regions — particularly the United States, Brazil, and the European Union — that have actively promoted biofuel production.

这是由一些关键地区（特别是美国、巴西和欧盟）积极促进生物燃料生产的政策推动的。

Where in the world are these biofuels produced?

这些生物燃料是在世界哪里生产的？

You can see production — measured in terms of energy content — by country in the map below.

您可以在下面的地图中查看按国家/地区划分的产量（以能源含量衡量）。

Both the United States and Brazil stand out as the world’s largest producers.

美国和巴西都是世界上最大的生产国。

Only a handful of countries (or regions, if we consider the European Union collectively) produce most of the world’s biofuels.

只有少数几个国家（或地区，如果我们把欧盟作为一个整体考虑的话）生产世界上大部分的生物燃料。

The United States is the world’s largest producer, as you can see in the chart below.

美国是世界上最大的生产国，如下图所示。

Next are Brazil, the EU, Indonesia, and China.

接下来是巴西、欧盟、印度尼西亚和中国。

These five countries/regions alone produce more than 80% of the global total.

仅这五个国家/地区的产量就占全球总量的80%以上。

You can see how global production of liquid biofuels has changed over the last few decades, broken down by country.

您可以看到过去几十年来全球液体生物燃料生产的变化（按国家/地区细分）。

All of the major producers saw substantial growth over that time (and continue to do so).

在那段时间里，所有主要生产商都实现了大幅增长（并将继续这样做）。

Interest and policies oriented towards biofuels started in the United States in the 1990s as a way to reduce its dependence on foreign oil markets.

美国于 20 世纪 90 年代开始对生物燃料产生兴趣并制定政策，以减少对外国石油市场的依赖。

In 2005, it introduced its Renewable Fuel Standard , which mandated that a minimum volume of the country’s transport fuel be sourced from biofuels.

2005年，它推出了可再生燃料标准，该标准规定该国运输燃料的最低数量必须来自生物燃料。

In 2007, it extended it further.

2007年，它进一步扩展了这一范围。

This led to a rapid growth in biofuel production, mostly from corn (maize).

这导致生物燃料产量快速增长，其中大部分来自玉米。

Brazil started using bioethanol decades earlier.

巴西几十年前就开始使用生物乙醇。

As you can see, by the early 1990s, they were already producing significant volumes.

正如您所看到的，到 20 世纪 90 年代初，他们已经生产了大量的产品。

However, production ramped up in the early 2000s, again, as a means to reduce the country’s dependence on oil for transportation.

然而，2000 年代初产量再次增加，作为减少该国对石油运输依赖的一种手段。

Most of its biofuels come from sugarcane.

其大部分生物燃料来自甘蔗。

In the chart below, you can see a breakdown from the International Energy Agency.

在下图中，您可以看到国际能源署的细分。

This shows each feedstock’s share of global liquid biofuels by volume (i.e., liters).

这显示了每种原料在全球液体生物燃料中按体积（即升）计算的份额。

Most of the world’s biofuels — over 90% of them — come from food crops, not waste oils or fats.

世界上大多数生物燃料（其中 90% 以上）来自粮食作物，而不是废油或脂肪。

The largest source is corn (maize), which accounts for just over one-third of the total.

最大的来源是玉米，占总量的三分之一多一点。

Most of this comes from the United States, where biofuel demand has driven most of its growth in corn production over the last few decades.

其中大部分来自美国，过去几十年来，生物燃料需求推动了该国玉米产量的大部分增长。

Sugarcane — mostly produced in Brazil — is the second largest source, followed by oil crops including palm oil, soy oil, and rapeseed.

甘蔗（主要产自巴西）是第二大来源，其次是棕榈油、豆油和油菜籽等油料作物。

Used cooking oil and animal fats make up around 12%.

用过的食用油和动物脂肪约占 12%。

What makes this slightly complicated to answer is that biofuels often produce co-products that are allocated to other uses, such as animal feed.

这个问题的回答有点复杂，因为生物燃料通常会产生副产品，这些副产品被分配给其他用途，例如动物饲料。

How you adjust this land used for biofuels and their co-products can lead to quite different results.

如何调整用于生物燃料及其副产品的土地可能会导致截然不同的结果。

A recent analysis from researchers at Cerulogy estimated that biofuels are grown on 61 million hectares of land.

Cerulogy 研究人员最近的一项分析估计，生物燃料种植面积为 6100 万公顷。

1 But when they split this allocation between land for biofuels and land for animal feed, the land use for biofuels alone was 32 million hectares.

1 但当他们将这笔分配分配给生物燃料用地和动物饲料用地时，仅生物燃料用地就达到了 3200 万公顷。

The other 29 million hectares would be allocated for land use for animal feed.

其余 2900 万公顷土地将用于动物饲料。

There are much higher published figures.

公布的数字要高得多。

The Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants estimates that as much as 112 million hectares are “used to supply feedstock for biofuels”.

石油和蛋白质植物促进联盟估计，多达 1.12 亿公顷的土地“用于供应生物燃料的原料”。

2 By this definition, there is no adjustment for dual use of that land or the land use of co-products.

2 根据此定义，不会对该土地的双重用途或联产品的土地用途进行调整。

That’s one of the reasons why the figures are much higher.

这就是数字高得多的原因之一。

Even taking this into account, the numbers are still higher, and it’s unclear why.

即使考虑到这一点，这个数字仍然更高，但原因尚不清楚。

The methodology is not fully transparent.

该方法并不完全透明。

Putting the more recent figure of 32 million hectares into context: imagine an area like the one in the box below: 640 kilometers across, and 500 kilometers high.

将最新的 3200 万公顷数字放在背景中：想象一下如下框中所示的区域：宽 640 公里，高 500 公里。

For context, that’s about the size of Germany, Poland, the Philippines, Finland, or Italy.

就上下文而言，这大约相当于德国、波兰、菲律宾、芬兰或意大利的面积。

You can read more about the land use of biofuels, including some analysis on whether this land could be used for energy more efficiently, in our article:

您可以在我们的文章中阅读有关生物燃料土地利用的更多信息，包括有关这片土地是否可以更有效地用于能源的一些分析：

The world dedicates a Poland-sized area of land to liquid biofuels.

世界将波兰大小的土地用于生产液体生物燃料。

Is there a more efficient way to generate energy?

有没有更有效的方式来产生能量？

Collectively, biofuels produce around 4% of the world’s energy demand for transport.

总的来说，生物燃料约占全球交通运输能源需求的 4%。

The vast majority of biofuel use is for road transport.

绝大多数生物燃料用于公路运输。

The International Energy Agency reports around 99% of it.

国际能源署报告称，这一比例约为 99%。

3

3

Less than 1% was used for aviation in 2023.

到 2023 年，不到 1% 用于航空。

But within aviation’s fuel supply, biofuel’s contribution is even smaller.

但在航空燃料供应中，生物燃料的贡献甚至更小。

We estimate that only around 0.4% of aviation’s energy demand comes from biofuels.

我们估计，航空能源需求中只有约 0.4% 来自生物燃料。

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You can read more about the contribution and potential of biofuels for aviation in our article:

您可以在我们的文章中详细了解生物燃料对航空的贡献和潜力：

To fuel all of the world’s aviation demand, global biofuels would need to more than triple and be exclusively used for air travel.

为了满足世界各地的航空需求，全球生物燃料需要增加两倍以上，并且专门用于航空旅行。

The world dedicates a Poland-sized area of land to liquid biofuels.

世界将波兰大小的土地用于生产液体生物燃料。

Is there a more efficient way to generate energy?

有没有更有效的方式来产生能量？

To fuel all of the world’s aviation demand, global biofuels would need to more than triple and be exclusively used for air travel.

为了满足世界各地的航空需求，全球生物燃料需要增加两倍以上，并且专门用于航空旅行。

Sandford et al.

桑福德等人。

(2024).

（2024）。

Diverted harvest: Environmental Risk from Growth in International Biofuel Demand.

转移收获：国际生物燃料需求增长带来的环境风险。

Cerulogy.

血清学。

They estimate that 8% of global croplands supply feedstock for biofuel production.

他们估计全球 8% 的农田为生物燃料生产提供原料。

Using their estimate of 1.4 billion hectares of total cropland, this would be 112 million hectares.

根据他们对 14 亿公顷农田总面积的估计，这将是 1.12 亿公顷。

In 2024, the International Energy Agency estimates that 1.8 billion liters of liquid biofuel were for “biojet” fuel.

国际能源署估计，到 2024 年，将有 18 亿升液体生物燃料用于“生物喷气”燃料。

Total production was 118 billion liters.

总产量为 1180 亿升。

That means biojet fuel was only 1%.

这意味着生物喷气燃料仅为 1%。

We can probably assume that the rest was used for road transport, since its use in marine transport is also negligible.

我们可以假设其余的用于公路运输，因为其在海运中的使用也可以忽略不计。

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that aviation energy demand in 2024 was 14.16 exajoules (EJ).

国际能源署（IEA）预计2024年航空能源需求为14.16艾焦耳（EJ）。

That’s equivalent to 13.6 exajoules (EJ), or 3,932 terawatt-hours (TWh).

这相当于 13.6 艾焦耳 (EJ)，或 3,932 太瓦时 (TWh)。

We estimate that biofuels used for aviation are equivalent to around 17 TWh.

我们估计用于航空的生物燃料相当于约 17 TWh。

The IEA estimates that 1.8 billion liters of biojet fuel were used in 2024.

IEA 估计 2024 年生物喷气燃料的使用量为 18 亿升。

With an energy content of 34 MJ per litre, this is equivalent to 61 billion MJ (or 0.061 EJ).

每升能量含量为 34 MJ，相当于 610 亿 MJ（或 0.061 EJ）。

That is equivalent to 17 TWh.

这相当于 17 TWh。

17 TWh is 0.43% of the 3,930 TWh demand [17/ 3,930 = 0.43%].

17 TWh 占 3,930 TWh 需求的 0.43% [17/ 3,930 = 0.43%]。

This is very similar to figures reported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

这与国际航空运输协会（IATA）报告的数字非常相似。

It reported that in 2024, “In 2024, SAF production reached 1Mt (1.250 billion liters), doubling the amounts produced in 2023, representing 0.3% of global jet fuel use.”

报道称，到2024年，“2024年，SAF产量达到1Mt（12.5亿升），是2023年产量的两倍，占全球航空燃油使用量的0.3%。”

By 2025, the IATA expected that this could be 0.6% of global demand.

IATA 预计到 2025 年，这可能占全球需求的 0.6%。

Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations.

我们的文章和数据可视化依赖于许多不同的人和组织的工作。

When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources.

引用本主题页面时，请同时引用底层数据源。

This topic page can be cited as:

该主题页面可以引用为：