Bioenergy: Paradoxes and dilemmas of a promising energy alternative

The energy production that still moves the world comes in the vast majority from fossil sources. However, according to renewable energy main institutions reports, the sources from which this renewable energy is being generated are hydropower with the highest percentage by far, 41.2%, followed by solar 31.2%, wind 26.4%, bioenergy 4.5%, geothermal 0.4%, and tidal with a minimum percentage of 0.02 %. Therefore, bioenergy is located as another of the promising renewable energies, but still with a very low percentage.
As biomass is the main source of bioenergy, it is the renewable energy source with the greatest variety of inputs, for example, biogas from landfill or thermal processes, solid biofuels from wood, municipal waste, and crops or animal waste, and liquid biofuels from conventional and advanced bio gasoline and biodiesel, among others.
The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the uses of biomass in some Latin American countries, offering a general reflection on this region, and to expand on the various faces of energy injustice suffered by a series of communities, and also the advances that the bioenergy sources could offer; therefore, the structure of this chapter is as follows: first, some general information and facts related to one of its inputs -the steadily growing problem of human waste production- are exposed. Then, a brief description of bioenergy advances in some Latin America countries is offered, to close with the identification of some challenges to be addressed within the domain of bioenergy and with some conclusions.