A MISSING PIECE IN THE NEW JOULE ORDER: BIOMASS FOR RELIABLE POWER





October 22, 2025 by Rob Steir





Biomass: The Overlooked but Essential Source of Reliable Electricity


Biomass energy—particularly waste-to-electricity solutions—deserves a central place in today’s conversation about reliable electricity. Yet influential reports like The New Joule Order barely mention it (as a source of energy in one graph on page 15). This omission overlooks the vital role biomass, which includes municipal waste, can play at the local level, where decentralized, dependable electricity is increasingly critical.


Global Energy Security 1; Climate Change 0


In March 2025, investment group Carlyle published The New Joule Order report with a bold claim: energy security—not environmental goals—is now the primary driver of global energy policy. Author Jeff Currie, Carlyle’s Chief Strategy Officer of Energy Pathways, highlights a shift from “green premiums” to “security premiums”, referring to the extra cost nations are willing to pay for energy (or “joules” as he calls it) generated domestically, whether from coal, gas, wind, or solar. In this new energy world, electricity generated from coal is as good as from wind or solar. Concepts such as ESG, net zero, carbon neutral, and all other climate change mantras are far less important, at a macro country level. This is a fundamental huge shift in thinking and actions by governments around the world.


The Increasing Importance of Reliable Electricity


“RELIABLE ENERGY is the ability of a power system to consistently deliver power to homes, buildings, and devices—even in the face of instability, uncontrolled events, cascading failures, or unanticipated loss of system components.” Source: US Department of Energy


The US Department of Energy issued a July 2025 report, with the subtitle: “The Department of Energy warns that blackouts could increase by 100 times in 2030 if the U.S. continues to shutter reliable power sources and fails to add additional firm capacity."

Here’s a chart depicting the expected U.S. energy demand needs over the next 25 years.





As one can see, electricity demand will increase dramatically over the next 20 years. As our national grid is made up of a patchwork of local and regional electricity grids, there will be a huge scramble for local reliable electricity and a daily challenge to meet peak demands. Big electricity users and electricity providers will have a shared central agenda – out of necessity - finding new local sources of ongoing, reliable electricity for themselves, if needed, and for their existing and (future) new customers.


Thus,


- If a local utility can build a more cost-efficient solar farm, it will.

- If private industry can build a wind farm, and it will be profitable at the PPA rate offered by the local utility, it will.

- If a data center owner can access off-grid local renewable electricity, you bet it will.


And for biomass-to-electricity options:


- If a municipality can use its MSW and other biomass waste streams to generate electricity, and sell it to the grid, it will.

- If private industry can use its on-site biomass waste streams to generate off-grid electricity with microgrids to internally distribute the electricity, and deploy battery storage when needed, it will.


Adding Biomass to the Energy Mix


Every city has waste. Every factory generates waste. Forests and ag waste are everywhere, too.


Together, these waste streams form a nearly endless feedstock for reliable electricity. Unlike intermittent solar and wind, biomass-to-electricity systems deliver consistent, on-demand power—making it an ideal partner for microgrids, industrial off-grid systems, and local utilities.


While Carlyle’s New Joule Order empowers many nations to re-embrace fossil fuels to achieve energy security, at the local level, however, it’s every user for itself. Biomass can be a critical option to meet rising local demand for reliable power, when and where it’s needed most.


In sum, yes to oil. Yes to gas. Yes to wind. Yes to solar. And yes to biomass!



Rob Steir is a co-founder and partner in Frontline Waste. He is based in Delray Beach, Florida. https://linkedin.com/in/robsteir




REFERENCES

The New Joule Order, March 10, 2025 by Jeff Currie for Carlyle


ABOUT FRONTLINE WASTE BIOMASS-TO-ENERGY PYROLYSIS SYSTEM

For every 20 tons of dried biomass waste per day used within Frontline Waste’s modular (JF20 and JF60) pyrolysis systems, we can create a gross 1 MWe per hour or 24 MWe to be used each day. Our systems can both feed the grid, be used directly by an off-grid user, or be part of a microgrid for off-grid uses. https://frontlinewaste.com





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