Until the mid-1800s, wood gave Americans 90 percent of the energy they used. Today biomass gives us only 3.2 percent of the energy we use. Biomass was largely replaced by coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Industry is the biggest user of biomass. Seventy-seven percent of biomass is used by industry.
Homes are the next biggest users of biomass energy.
About one-fifth of American homes burn wood for heating. Three percent of homes use wood as their main heating fuel. Electric utilities also use biomass energy to produce electricity. One percent of biomass is used to make electricity. Still, biomass produces only a tiny amount of the electricity we use in this country.