Asia is bestowed with abundant agro-biomass resources of forestry/agricultural residues from Palm, Sugar Cane, Rice, Coconut, Wood and emerging Energy Crops such as Jatropha, Miscanthus or Elephant Grass. To date, feed-in tariff for renewable energy has made slow progress in Asia. Only in Thailand, India and the Philippines, where regulatory incentives are implemented, domestically available agro-biomass, such as sugar bagasse, coconut husks and rice husks, is "actively" being collected and used to ease the power shortage and "brown outs". Such green investments provided not only lights to the homes, but also improve the social living condition of the environment and residents. So, can this chain effect be spread to the rest of Asia?
Traditionally, biomass resources were consumed primarily in the region where they were produced, but current trend of large-scale use of biomass energy, coupled with advances in pre-treatment technologies and transportation, is creating a need for international trade. So, can Asia''s wood pellets and agro biomass be "harvested" and exported to meet the growing demand in Europe?