> I always treated biomass as essentially a solar collector.  It has
> some inputs other than sun, and requires post-processing to convert to
> energy, but some studies show that it's still better than the 7% we
> get out of an average solar cell, which requires a great deal of
> energy to create, but no post processing later.

Fer instance:

In "Entering Space" (which I highly recommend to anyone with more
than a passing interest in the engineering require to transition from
Type 1 to Type 2 to Type 3 society), Robert Zubrin points out that
the agriculture of the US state of Rhode Island (smallest of the states,
3100 sq km, of which 32% is water and, likely, a similar amount is
city, town, road, etc.) consumes more energy in the form of light
than the entire electrical output of humanity, the world over, at
present.  (!!!)

Mike H.
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