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The dawn of the steam age began when wood was burnt to boil water. Several railway companies continued to burn wood to generate steam in locomotives well into the 20th century. Biofuel such as wood and dried cattle effluent have continually been used in many countries to heat stoves and to heat homes during winter. The first large-scale application of using biofuel to generate electric power was the 250-Mw Thetford Power Station near London, UK. Its fuel is the effluent from nearby corporate poultry farms. A similar 50-Mw power station recently commenced operation in Kentucky, USA and operates on the byproduct from nearby turkey farms.

The Kyoto Protocol classifies biofuel as being environmentally neutral due to the ability of vegetation to absorb as much carbon dioxide during its period of growth as it or its byproduct emits when combusted. Thetford power station began operating well before the Kyoto Protocol was initiated and along with its America counterpart were initiated on an economic basis. The organic waste material from dense concentrations of commercial poultry mega-farms needed to be disposed of and biomass-fueled power stations provided a viable solution. Similar power stations may be built where densely populated metropolitan centers are located near dense concentrations of commercial poultry mega-farms.

The sheer volume of organic waste that would be produced by such operations would leave few options other than for it to be used as fuel at viable biofuel commercial power stations. The mega-farms would also produce prodigious amounts of ammonia gas (NH3) that could be carried through duct systems to the power station. Nitrous oxide (NOx) that would be created by the combustion process would react with the ammonia to produce water vapor and nitrogen: 3(NOx) + 2(NH3) >> 6(H2O) + 3N2.

The biofuel gasifier systems used at such power stations continually removes the combustion ash via auger mechanisms. Biofuel ash has a high mineral content and has been proven to be an effective plant fertilizer. This ash may be incorporated into a "closed loop" system where becomes plant fertilizer at farms that produce poultry feed for corporate mega-farms. To cope with unexpected emergencies, the biofuel gasifiers would need to be designed so that their settings may quickly be re-adjusted to enable them to efficiently process an alternate biofuel. An antibiotic-resistant avian virus could infect poultry at commercial mega-farms and result in a mass culling of birds. The sale of poultry products to consumers would be temporarily restricted during which time the biofuel power stations would temporarily operate on alternative organic waste material.

Biofuel has been criticized for its low energy content of 4,000 to 6,000-Btu's per pound of thermal energy compared to coal has 11,000 to 13,500-Btu's per pound of thermal energy. Recent advances in combustion technology could raise the thermal efficiency of future biofuel power stations. High-temperature ceramic material that has a high thermal shock tolerance can enable Ljungstrom heat exchangers to operate at elevated temperatures in external-combustion gas (air) turbine engines that burn solid biofuel. Advances in gasifier combustion research may eventually allow solid biofuel to power internal-combustion gas turbine engines. The exhaust heat from a gas/air turbine engine may be sufficient to raise saturated steam for a steam powered bottom-cycle engine. The overall thermal efficiency of such a combined-cycle power station would make biofuel power stations more economically attractive.

The use of biofuel to generate power has caused controversy when waste organic material is replaced by non-waste organic material that is grown on lands where food crops may be grown. A branch of the ethanol industry in Canada sidestepped this issue by using a modified chemical process that enables ethanol to be produced from wood waste. A segment of the lumber industry does produce biofuel for home heating and has sidestepped the controversy since much of their lumber is grown in regions that would otherwise be unsuitable for agriculture.

Genetic engineering could be applied to a variety of plants that would be grown outside of agricultural regions and become fuel for home heating and emergency fuel for biofuel power stations. These plants and vegetation could be fertilized with sewage from municipal treatment plants, as is done in certain Asian countries with several food crops. There would be public opposition to this Asian practice with regard to food crops grown in Western nations. The same practice would likely be a non-issue in regard to managed crops grown in Western nations for use as biofuel.

The recent discovery of an extensive undersea forest of vegetation growing on the bed of the Mediterranean Sea has caused concern since it is destroying traditional fish habitat, traditional fish breeding grounds and traditional sources of food for certain fish species. It may take decades for fish to adapt to this altered habitat or for it to become home to other non-traditional species of fish. The vegetation in the undersea forest could become a new source of biofuel that could be processed into ethanol or used as solid fuel to generate electric power. In the latter case, managed undersea forests could then be developed in other parts of the world to provide biofuel.

These managed oceanic forests may be located in close proximity to managed artificial commercial reefs where fish is raised for the market. Private companies may develop such commercial ventures after governments recognized and upheld private property rights over sections of ocean that lie within their jurisdiction. If natural gas and oil elicit high market prices over the long-term future, a viable biofuel industry could emerge in the absence of government subsidies, tax incentives or favorable economic regulations that restrict competitors. While such government policies win support over the short-term, they could undermine the long-term viability of the biofuel industry. If the idea of peak-oil were fact and not myth, then alternative energy sources that would be viable and economically self-sustaining over the long-term future would be needed.