Energy produced from the combustion or gasification of biomass, and therefore from renewable sources.

Fuels produced from biomass. Wood, for example, has been used as a biofuel since humans discovered fire. Other biofuels originate as forestry or arable crops or biomass waste products, such as solid fuel from wood chippings or chicken litter or liquid ethanol from corn.

Biomass is a term used to describe all living things whether plant or animal. It also includes dead things as long as the nutrients they contain can be easily recycled by decomposition. Coal and oil, which are made up of the remains of living creatures, have been altered to such an extent by time and geological processes that they are no longer considered biomass. [Shell Better Britain Information]

Terms used to describe the (amount of) biomass produced by the productive surface area of the planet. For the purposes of eco-footprinting, this normally excludes unproductive areas such as ice-caps, deserts and the open seas. The total productive area on the planet identified in LPR 2002 was 11.4 billion hectares, about a quarter of the Earth's surface. Example: The total annual banana crops of all banana-growing land on the planet divided by the area of that land produces a worldwide [average] figure for banana bioproductivity.

The number of live births per thousand of the population in a year.

An element occurring in all organic compounds. To convert amounts of carbon to carbon dioxide (CO2), multiply by 3.664. Example: world carbon emissions were 6 billion tonnes in 2001 [UKCIP], expressed as 21.98 billion tonnes of CO2.

The cyle in which carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed from the atmosphere by plants and replaced, mainly by decay of organic matter and breathing out by animals.

Known as CO2. A gas which is a compound of carbon with oxygen, formed by the combustion of carbon (as in fossil fuels, for example), or breathed out by animals, or by fermentation or decay of organic matter. To convert amounts of CO2 to carbon, divide by 3.664. Example: world CO2 emissions were 21.98 billion tonnes in 2001, expressed as 6 billion tonnes of carbon.

The size of human population that can be supported in a given territory, in a specified life-style (for example 'Modest European'), without degrading its physical and ecological environment, and without imposing wastes on the global environment beyond a specified limit.

The number of deaths per thousand of the population in a year.

The weight of biological product when dry. More than half the weight of a potato, for example, is its water content.

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