China’s Biomass Use Makes It Top Energy User, IEA Says

China’s biomass use, which the government excludes from its consumption estimates, placed the country ahead of the U.S. as the world’s largest energy consumer in 2009, the International Energy Agency said.

Inclusion of “traditional biomass use” in rural areas, such as the burning of grain stems or wood for cooking, increases China’s energy consumption by four to five percent, Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the Paris-based adviser said at a press conference in Beijing today. Biomass is material made from organic matter.