Tilling charcoal into the soil can promote lush plant growth as well as sequestering carbon, say biochar enthusiasts.
Jim Fournier wants to help save the planet, though in a most unlikely way: by burning biomass. At the forefront of a carbon-sequestration technology that proponents say offers a rare 'win-win-win' environmental opportunity, Fournier's company Biochar Engineering in Golden, Colorado, manufactures machines that turn biomass into charcoal, or biochar.
Spread on soil, biochar can keep CO2 out of the atmosphere while improving soil fertility and boosting productivity. In addition, gases released in the charcoal-making process can be used to make biofuels that are more sustainable than those currently on the market. "Char happens to be the one thing that represents a solution to all of these factors together. It's a unique opportunity," Fournier says.
But while enthusiasts are pushing to have biochar recognized as an official means of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions, others remain cautious. At best we know too little, say critics, and at worst using biochar to sequester carbon could ultimately lead to unintended consequences, including the destruction of virgin forests to make way for plantations.
"Biochar certainly has potential," says David Wardle, a soil scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. "But it's premature to be already including it in carbon accounting. Maybe it really is an answer. But we don't know that yet."
Though the idea of using biochar for climate change mitigation is relatively new, its origins extend back to the pre-Columbian era, when humans first made terra preta — in Portuguese, dark earth — soils in the central Amazon basin. According to archaeologists, the rich, black and fertile terra preta was created by adding a mixture of bone, manure and charcoal to the otherwise relatively infertile soil over many years. The charcoal – believed to be the key ingredient – is 70 times more concentrated in terra preta than in surrounding soils and is formed by heating biomass in an oxygen-poor or oxygen-free environment. Some of the charcoal in Amazon terra preta soils has persisted for thousands of years, back to when people first started this practice. Its persistence has attracted the attention of research scientists who think that it could be used to lock away carbon for a similarly long time in the future, keeping it out of the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas.
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- JanforGore
- added this
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More on biochar which is gaining more notice in light of looking for ways to sequester carbon naturally.
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- JanforGore
- 5 months ago
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I personally am on the fence about this as I don't know all of the interactions it could have with the soil or the environment. However, it appears to have some potential, and James Hansen of NASA is also reportedly a supporter of this method to reduce carbon emissions. We need to know more.
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- JanforGore
- 5 months ago
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After watching this I have to say it 'looks' promising.
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- JanforGore
- 5 months ago
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Agri-char, Bio-char is not new. It is a working solution as it's commercial design is both supported and advanced.
That advancement may be many years in the development due in large part to CHP demands which are also in the design and development stage.
There are many excellent people working on this very important effort.
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- 1Eco_Media
- 5 months ago
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Since no long-term toxicology or impartial biochemical reports exist, basic conjecture dictates there could possibly exist soil strata deterioration due to recombinate sulfuric acidification, leaving soil regions significantly consistent of Limestone particularly vulnerable.
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The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES),
H.R.2454Projected investment..
Energy Eff. & Renewal E ($90B) carbon capture & seq ($60B), electric veh ($20B), and basic R&D ($20B) by 2025
carbon c&s will be getting a great deal of the clean energy act projected funds. They will be looking for the lowest cost solutions. With advanced designs this method will be one of the low cost solutions.
The cost per ton factor is directly related to the working solutions of the future. It is not a matter of can it be done. It is a matter of is it affordable to be done.
The object is to get the most tons in reduced carbon emissions for the $60B investment.
This of course may upset some who already had plans for those carbon C&S dollars. The logical solution is allow r&d to advance models until such time as the most cost effective methods prove themselves.
This goes back to sustainable integrated farming & that is a very important factor.
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- 1Eco_Media
- 5 months ago
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My Italian grandparents did this in my back yard. It was all vegetables when I was little.
When I dig now I find small animal bones, small chunks of the stuff they mixed into the soil from the old coal furnace and they always mixed manure into the garden. Of course all scraps went into their compost in the back of the yard.
Everyone used to ask me where I got my beautiful top soil. "My grandparents", I'd answer.
Of course I explained how they did it! -
Where would one purchase this bio char or can you just buy charcoal from your local market burn it and crush it into the soil, or just crush it into the soil in it's raw form. It definitely seems like something I'd like to try in my backyard ( bird- attracting) garden..........
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Check with your local co-op, or state extension service. It's government funded and affiliated with a University that teaches agricultural related studies.
They usually offer local free classes on gardening related subjects and even classes to obtain master gardener certification.
They can guide you in the right direction. How to supplement, or amend your soil to get the same results.-
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- nursediesel
- 5 months ago
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