Biomass is derived from different plant-based organic materials. That includes so-called energy crops such as oil palms, soya or sugarcane as well as plant, household and industrial waste. Biomass can used in a variety of ways – for heating purposes, to generate electricity or to produce biofuels for vehicles and even airplanes. – Everything you ever wanted to know about biomass is now available in the latest GLOBAL IDEAS dossier! Read articles, see photos and watch our reports on the issue right here: http://bit.ly/GI_dossierBMEN

Robin Chase is the founder & CEO of Buzzcar, an peer to peer carsharing company. She is also founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world. She serves on advisory committees for the US Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of Transportation. Her statement for GLOBAL IDEAS is about the future of car sharing.

The Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron is world-renowned for creating futuristic, cutting-edge and popular designs, like the Tate Modern gallery in London. Now the company is working on what might be one of its most innovative projects yet: a new, eco-friendly football stadium.

The building will be constructed in Bordeaux, France, and serve as the new home for the Bordeaux Girondins team. And most importantly, it will be powered by solar energy! Using a photovoltaic pump, clean power will be distributed throughout the stadium and the surrounding area. Construction is expected to be done by 2016, just in time for UEFA European Football Championship play. And that’s a good thing, too, because the stadium can hold more than 40,000 fans!

What do you all think? Is this the future of football stadiums in Europe and beyond?

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India produces millions of tons of agricultural waste each year but this material contains much more than just rubbish. The biomass can be used to generate low-carbon energy. That’s what one state in northern India has now begun doing. It’s producing briquettes of fuel from the biomass and selling it to local brick kilns. How the process is working you can see in our gallery.