Biochar Tradition in India

We can now add India to the list of countries with evidence of a long-standing tradition of agriculture supplemented with charcoal. According to first-hand accounts by Dr. Nakka Sai Bhaskar Reddy, a biochar enthusiast and researcher, members of the Munda tribe living in parts of Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal states, in India,:

use biochar in increasing the crop production. They mix charcoal with farm yard manure (pellets of small ruminants / cattle dung) and add to the red lateritic soils, which are other wise less fertile. They cultivate vegetables and green salad in the well fenced plots of about 1 acre in size. The biochar is mostly a byproduct from the biomass cook stoves in use(most often three stone stoves / simple clay earth stoves). They have access to wood from the jungles, which is used as fuel.

Pictures are available here, which highlight this practice.

Biochar needs '3-5 years more research' (ABC News in Science)

There needs to be a lot more research done to prove the numerous claims being made about biochar. While there is an increasing body of research and many more research initiatives in Universities, research labs etc, there is not much available in terms of research done on larger scale in a variety of settings. Krull's thoughts in this article address some of these concerns.

Biochar needs '3-5 years more research' (ABC News in Science): "Krull says evidence suggests sequestering carbon in biochar is more effective than sequestering it in soil but says estimates on how much carbon can be sequestered using the technology are premature.

'I don't know where these numbers come from,' says Krull.

For a start Krull says the price of carbon will help determine whether biochar is an attractive option as will the regulations on carbon sequestration, which are yet to be worked out.

She says there is also a finite amount of biomass in Australia.

According to biochar researcher Dr Annette Cowie of the NSW Department of Primary Industries, biochar produced from current biomass stocks in Australia could offset 2% of Australia's energy emissions.

Krull says more biomass could be planted to for biochar production, but there would be competition with bioenergy production and other land uses.

The design and location of biochar production facilities would also determine how much carbon emissions are reduced.

This is because greenhouse emissions can be released during the production and fossil fuels are burnt in transporting biochar."

Farmers

Krull says reducing carbon emissions through the use of biochar will rely on farmers taking up the technology but she does not advise farmers to use biochar until further research is done.

She says some farmers are experimenting with biochar at the moment.

"There are people that are putting biomass into an open pit, generating a charred product, calling it biochar and actually selling it," she says.

"There are no controls of how it has been produced, what temperatures from what sort of material and it releases all these gases into the atmosphere."

Krull says researchers still don't know how biochar from different biomass feedstocks interact with different soil type, and in how much biochar should be used.

The above is actually going on even in major cities like New York. Farmer's market participants have been seen showing charred wood produced in the same manner as Kroll mentions above and been offered as advise to many local farmers as a way to boost their yields. This can have many consequences if the research proves the pros and cons of biochar otherwise

Black is the New Green

The Weekend edition of the Financial Times reports at length about the biochar concept and its possibilities for climate change mitigation. While the article presented little information that is new to most biochar enthusiasts, it does an excellent job of breaking down the concept to the uninitiated.

This ancient product of the Amazon is now the subject of intense scrutiny by climate change scientists. The tenacity of the charcoal of terra preta – retaining its fertilising properties over centuries – has given them an idea. Charcoal is a form of carbon, the burnt remains of plant and animal material. If it can stay intact in the earth for so long, without being released as carbon dioxide gas, why not lock up more carbon in the earth in this manner?

Scientists have begun to refer to the charcoal made from plants for the purpose of storing carbon as “biochar”. The theory is that biomass – any plant or animal material – can be turned into charcoal by heating it in the absence of oxygen. By taking CO2 out of the atmosphere, the impact on climate change could be huge.

We are thrilled to see the snowball effect that is bringing biochar to the forefront of climate science. We hope more mainstream publications will pick up this exciting story soon.

Gaia scientist says life doomed by climate woes | World | Reuters

Gaia scientist says life doomed by climate woes
| World
| Reuters: "Climate change will wipe out most life on Earth by the end of this century and mankind is too late to avert catastrophe, a leading British climate scientist said.

James Lovelock, 89, famous for his Gaia theory of the Earth being a kind of living organism, said higher temperatures will turn parts of the world into desert and raise sea levels, flooding other regions.

His apocalyptic theory foresees crop failures, drought and death on an unprecedented scale. The population of this hot, barren world could shrink from about seven billion to one billion by 2100 as people compete for ever-scarcer resources.

'It will be death on a grand scale from famine and lack of water,' Lovelock told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. 'It could be a reduction to a billion (people) or less.'

By 2040, temperatures in European cities will rise to an average of 110 Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) in summer, the same as Baghdad and parts of Europe in the 2003 heatwave.

'The land will gradually revert to scrub and desert. You can look at as if the Sahara were steadily moving into Europe. It's not just Europe; the whole world will be changing in that way.'"

Worldwatch Institute Embraces Biochar

The Worldwatch Institute released its latest "State of the World" publication and has embraced biochar as a means for atmospheric carbon mitigation. The paper outlines the benefits of biochar-based cropping systems, particularly in warm, tropical soils where organic matter is rapidly decomposed unless converted to an inert form like char. The study also mentions that most soils demonstrate improved yields at char concentrations up to 183 tons of CO2 equivalent.

Wood stoves face ban

Wood stoves face ban

The municipal government of Montreal, QC has initiated a ban on all wood stoves and fireplaces within the city limits. This rule is intended to combat particulates and smog in the air which are believed to be responsible for 1,540 premature deaths each year in Montreal. Montreal is one of the coldest cities in the world with greater than 1 million inhabitants, with a lower mean annual temperature than St. Petersburg and Moscow. According to the legislation, stoves that burn wood pellets are still considered acceptable.

Crikey - Flip-flop Flannery is a climate change opportunist - Flip-flop Flannery is a climate change opportunist

to paint biochar with the same brush as some political analysis of an individual is a sad state of affairs. biochar is probably the lowest cost form of carbon sequestration...still waiting to hear of other low cost options other then burying carbon deep into the soil. biochar in no way or form should let the coal industry shirk its responsibility.

Crikey - Flip-flop Flannery is a climate change opportunist - Flip-flop Flannery is a climate change opportunist: "Malcolm Turnbull’s new climate change plan is another in a long line of diversionary policies aimed at taking the heat off the coal industry.

His emphasis on biochar -- turning agricultural waste into charcoal and spreading it onto paddocks -- is reminiscent of attempts by the Bush Administration to sabotage the Kyoto Protocol by allowing fossil pollution to be ‘offset’ by changes in agricultural practices."

Turnbull plan stirs dust-up - National News - National - General - The Sun Weekly

that's why logistics is key, small scale distributed is key; else could end up being carbon positive

Turnbull plan stirs dust-up - National News - National - General - The Sun Weekly: "A COALITION senator has questioned the need for a key element of Malcolm Turnbull's green carbon initiative, which he unveiled at the weekend as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The NSW Nationals senator John Williams, whom the Opposition Leader consulted over the policy, said biosequestration, in which carbon from crop residue is returned to the soil in the form of charcoal, would amount to unnecessary double handling for farmers.

Senator Williams told the Herald that improved land management ensured carbon was released into the soil, rather than into the atmosphere, as crop residue decayed. He said he was wary of Mr Turnbull's call for increasing revegetation to offset carbon emissions, and said it must not be done at the expense of arable land."

UNSW leading on biochar research - News - UNSW - Science

Biochar research is under way in Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands. The United States has recently committed US$40m a year to char research and universities in Edinburgh, California and New Zealand are also investing in the area.

UNSW leading on biochar research - News - UNSW - Science: "'There is no question that biochar can boost agricultural output by speeding the growth rate of plants,' says Professor Paul Munroe, who is co-chief investigator of the ARC Linkage research.

'Our research focus is to characterise different biomass feed stocks and determine their potential to improve soils and boost the growth of different crops and plants.'"

Visionary Theorist James Lovelock Advocates for Biochar

Dr. James Lovelock , a prominent scientist, theorist and inventor recently advocated for biochar in an interview with the New Scientist. Lovelock is best known for his origination of the "Gaia Hypothesis," which states that the Earth functions as a large superorganism, with all systems interdependent and interconnected. Lovelock advocates for a farm-based pyrolysis scheme, where producers generate biochar and biofuels from agricultural waste:

The biosphere pumps out 550 gigatonnes of carbon yearly; we put in only 30 gigatonnes. Ninety-nine per cent of the carbon that is fixed by plants is released back into the atmosphere within a year or so by consumers like bacteria, nematodes and worms. What we can do is cheat those consumers by getting farmers to burn their crop waste at very low oxygen levels to turn it into charcoal, which the farmer then ploughs into the field. A little CO₂ is released but the bulk of it gets converted to carbon. You get a few per cent of biofuel as a by-product of the combustion process, which the farmer can sell. This scheme would need no subsidy: the farmer would make a profit.

Scientist hopes terra preta will slow climate change | lee.shearer@onlineathens.com

Scientist hopes terra preta will slow climate change | lee.shearer@onlineathens.com: "Now, a growing number of scientists want to see human civilizations adopt terra preta again, worldwide - not just as a way to make soil more productive, but as a major tool against global warming.

A U.N. task force on global warming has proposed using the technique, prominently citing research by UGA research scientist Christoph Steiner, who studied terra preta for years in Brazil and now is researching ways biochar might help modern humans.

The Kyoto Protocols, an international agreement designed to slow down global warming, names two techniques for sequestering carbon to keep the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere: reforestation, or restoring forested areas, and afforestation, or converting other kinds of landscapes to forest.

Steiner thinks biochar could become a third major technique.

The U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification last month said biochar should be added to the list when world governments adopt a new climate change agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012."

Biodiesel Cold Weather Problems

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that frigid temperature forced the closing of many elementary and middle schools not because of excess snow, but because of a problem with the state-mandated biodiesel used to fuel the schools' buses. According to R-Squared Energy Blog, biodiesel has a cloud and pour point roughly 20 degrees c higher than that of petroleum diesel, meaning that biodiesel tends to gel and cooagulate at a higher temperature than petro-diesel. This property presents a significant problem in cold climates, requiring the use of chemical stabilizers or engine heating systems to avoid the problems faced in Minneapolis. Of particular interest is the fact that green-diesel fuels, which are produced by biomass to liquid, gasification and pyrolysis processes, are less prone to gelling and coagulation than biodiesel, as these fuels are more chemically similar to petroleum products. Green-diesel and bio-oil based fuels could present an attractive option in cold weather climates where biodiesel is simply not applicable.

New Cleaner Fuels from Crude Oil

Green Car Congress reports that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has signed a collaborative agreement with Chevron to develop new catalysts for production of cleaner fuels from crude oil.

This work will utilize state-of-the art in situ methodologies developed at LLNL to examine catalysts in realistic environments and will focus on specific catalysts that exhibit high reactivity and resistance to sulfur poisoning.

This research is potentially relevant to the fast pyrolysis industry, as many of the properties of raw bio-oil are similar to those of crude oil. Furthermore, many of the catalysts used in bio-oil upgrading are similar to those used in conventional petroleum refining.

'Green' Gasoline On The Horizon

another group studying potential use of bio oil or pyrolysis oil as green refined product substitute..
our teams are working on various stages of technology for the production of bio oil and biochar.

'Green' Gasoline On The Horizon: "“An initial step we’re investigating is pryolsis, which converts the solid biomass to liquids through a high-temperature, non-combustion process that breaks large, solid molecules into smaller liquid ones without breaking them up too far,” says Lobban.

This “bio oil” looks like crude oil, but its chemical composition is very different. The same catalysts used in traditional petroleum refineries cannot be used to convert bio oil to fuels, but the same ideas apply. “The idea is to use a series of catalytic and separation steps to create the desired fuel molecules,” says Lobban. “That’s really the core of our research.”"

Halt all carbon emissions by 2050, says Worldwatch | Environment | Reuters

Halt all carbon emissions by 2050, says Worldwatch | Environment | Reuters: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change, world carbon emissions will have to drop to near zero by 2050 and 'go negative' after that, the Worldwatch Institute reported on Tuesday.

This is a deeper cut than called for by most climate experts and policymakers, including President-elect Barack Obama, who favors an 80 percent drop in U.S. carbon emissions by mid-century.

Limiting carbon emissions aims to keep global mean temperature from rising more than 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) over what it was before the Industrial Revolution -- but one Worldwatch author said even this is too dangerous.

'Global warming needs to be reduced from peak levels to 1 degree (Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) as fast as possible,' co-author William Hare said at a briefing on the 'State of the World 2009' report. 'At this level you can see some of the risks fade into the background.'"

Climate Progress Blog Archive Is 450 ppm politically possible? Part 8: The U.S. needs a tougher 2020 GHG emissions target

Climate Progress Blog Archive Is 450 ppm politically possible? Part 8: The U.S. needs a tougher 2020 GHG emissions target:

"Offsets

Every major recent U.S. climate bill allows emitters to purchase a substantial amount of both domestic and international “offsets” in place of reducing their own emissions. Yet a major 2008 analysis from Stanford University found:

… “between a third and two thirds” of emission offsets under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)–set up under the Kyoto treaty to encourage emissions reductions in developing nations–do not represent actual emission cuts.

Furthermore, a November report by the Government Accountability Office found, “the use of carbon offsets in a cap-and-trade system can undermine the system’s integrity.”"

Also, many aspects of the climate system are changing faster than projected by the IPCC ensemble of climate models–and some, such as Arctic summer ice cover, are changing faster than every single model.

Many leading climate scientists believe the long-term sensitivity of the climate to the doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations is considerably higher than 3°C. In one recent paper, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, James Hansen, along with eight other climate scientists, argued that the effective climate sensitivity is closer to 6°C, and that a target of 350 ppm CO2 may be required. While this is only one study, it does suggest that the nation and the world should pursue the most aggressive emissions targets possible to keep open the option of much lower concentration targets than previously thought.

WWF - Power emissions limits to save most carbon at least cost

New emission limits are needed worldwide. what is happening in Europe now is pretty global actually, where new CO2 belching power plants continue to get built with little being done by them to capture CO2, store them or invest in renewable energy or focus on energy efficiency.

The CO2 emissions performance standard similar to ones in use in some of the US states that the article mentions is clearly a right step, as it tries to set limits based on emissions per unit of energy output.

WWF - Power emissions limits to save most carbon at least cost: "The study clearly shows that an Emission Performance Standard needs to be phased in through stages for both new and existing plants. Imposing a very demanding limit of 150g CO2 / kWh just on new plants from 2010 would deliver reductions of 10 per cent of power sector greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, while a staged introduction of a less stringent 350g standard for new plants from 2010, extended to existing plants by 2015, could save up to 46 per cent of power sector emissions by 2020.

In contrast to continuing to allow construction of new conventional fossil fuel power stations under the guise of 'capture readiness', an Emissions Performance Standard is an effective means of providing the real regulatory certainty needed to shift investment decisions in the power sector, and avoid dangerous lock-in to high carbon power infrastructure.

It will also be key to move Europe’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 20 per cent to 30 per cent as soon as a new international agreement is in place."

Algae Startup GreenFuel Cutting Almost Half Its Staff (Earth2Tech)

Algae issues continue, mostly technical issues that now translating to job losses and project shutdowns in a weakening economy..

we believe in algae but will it work?

Algae Startup GreenFuel Cutting Almost Half Its Staff Earth2Tech: "GreenFuel is encountering even more hurdles in its path to producing algae, fed with recycled CO2, that can be turned into biofuel. This time it’s the battered economy throwing up roadblocks, and the company has cut nearly half its staff, according to XConomy"

Carbon market to shrug off downturn and top $150bn this year - 12 Jan 2009 - BusinessGreen

Carbon market to shrug off downturn and top $150bn this year - 12 Jan 2009 - BusinessGreen: "'We don't expect to see a great deal of change in the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) market, there will be a small increase in volume, but the price of credits is likely to stay fairly stable,' he predicted. 'Where we expect to see increases in both volume and prices is in the CDM market.'

The expansion of the CDM market is expected to be driven by an increased pipeline of new credits from UN-approved emission reduction projects and the growing maturity of the UN's International Transaction Log (ITL) trading system, which Turner said was improving liquidity in the market.

He also said that demand for credits from traders in the US and Australia was also expected to increase as they prepare for the introduction of their own national carbon emission cap-and-trade schemes.

The ETS market is expected to endure a tougher year as reduced economic activity results in lower demand for carbon credits and depressed carbon credit prices."

A longer term horizon should see both prices and volumes spike. Currently the news worldwide is all bad and recessionary and that is causing valuations to drop rapidly. The carbon market is bound to pick up again.

Biochar #1 on Guardian's Top 20 Big Green Ideas

Biochar was recently listed #1 on the UK Guardian's list of the Top 20 Big Green Ideas for 2009. The article succinctly summarizes the biochar concept and its benefits, likening biochar to "green coal." Unfortunately, the brief article makes no mention of the potential of generating heat, fuel and power from pyrolysis systems, a concept we believe is ultimately vital to the success of biochar. The full text of the article below:

Any biomass waste – from wood to peanut shells – releases carbon as it decomposes. But it can be burned in a kiln by pyrolysis (an airless burning technique) to create biochar, also known by the soubriquet green coal. The biochar is then dug back into the ground in order to lock carbon into the soil following a system set out by ancient South American civilisations – which exposes the idea as nothing new. What is groundbreaking, however, is using it to mitigate our current predicament – ie, runaway greenhouse gas emissions. According to experts, billions of tonnes of carbon could potentially be sequestered in the world's soils, specifically from agriculture and forestry residual biomass. Biochar appears to lock carbon in for much longer than other forms or sequestration: a plant or tree will only sequester for 15 to 20 years, for example, whereas it seems reasonable to suggest that the biochar system will sequester for at least 100 years. Also, biochar just happens to anchor soil nutrients extremely well at a time when the planet's soils have lost half of their carbon thanks to industrialised agriculture.

Vineyards Sequestering Carbon via Biochar

Reign of Teroir reports a recent interview with Hans-Peter Schmidt, founder of the Swiss experimental vineyard Mythopia. Schmidt, an anthropologist cum experimental vintner has been producing his own biochar from leftover grape pomace since 2007. Schmidt notes that pomace is otherwise useless, as it rots too quickly to be composted into fertilizer. According to Schmidt's method, biochar is crushed to a fine powder, with some larger particles present. This powder is then mixed superficially into the soil. Schmidt has yet to identify an ideal soil depth for biochar application, but notes that "the char is light and it tends to get to the surface; it’s like if you put wood into water, it floats up." Mythopia is also tracking how long-term storage of carbon in soils affects the aroma and flavor profiles of their wine. The results of their experiments will be documented in an online journal called Ithaka. Vineyards represent a huge source of easily-pyrolyzed biomass, as pomace requires little pre-processing and grinding. Furthermore, it typically has no other valuable use, making it an ideal feedstock. We look forward to viewing the results of Schmidt's experiments as they develop.

More Mainstream Coverage of Biochar

Popularmechanics.com writer Jeremy Jacquot recently published an article outlining many of the basics of biochar production and its potential as a global carbon sink. Jacquot cites several ongoing infield biochar trials in the Amazon Basin and Belize. Jacquot's article highlights many of the questions that still surround biochar:

Jim Amonette, a senior research scientist with the DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory,
says that while there are no obvious downsides to biochar, more work
needs to be done to investigate its sequestration potential and
longevity in the soil. An ideal study would consist of adding biochar
to four types of soil (to get a good representation of the different
types of soil found in agricultural land around the world) at eight
locations worldwide, says Amonette. Using radiocarbon isotope
measurements, scientists would be able to track new plant growth—to
verify biochar's effect on crop yields—as well as the longevity of the
stored carbon.

Biochar Effectiveness Varies with Latitude?

The following excerpt was recently posted on the forum of http://greenhome.huddler.com by a poster named Don Fletcher. It points to increased carbon cycling activity in lower latitude soils. This could have important implications for soil-based carbon sequestration, particularly regarding the question of soil carbon saturation points. Can anyone validate or challenge these claims?

Use of a pyrolitic process to give gas
energy and charcoal is much more significant in lower latitudes (between N 35
and S 35) where loss of carbon from decomposing plant matter is very fast.

When you get as far south as Havana (23 DEGREES N) the
soil will contain only a tiny trace of carbon from decomposing plant material.
Decomposition loses about 100% of the original carbon per year in low latitudes.
When we go to the Peace River country of Northern BC,
plant material will decompose about 3% per year. In southern Alberta
it is up to 4%, and in southern Ontario it could
be as much as 5% per year, but this more than doubles when we get to Cincinnati.

Big Biochar Questions for 2009

While we are obviously advocates for biochar and pyrolysis, we are the first to admit that certain questions remain before the technologies are adapted worldwide. We've compiled a list of Big Biochar Questions that must be answered in 2009. Please include additional questions in the comments.

1. Do soils have a carbon saturation point?- Before we attempt to sequester carbon in soils, we need to know 'how much is too much?'

2. What is the mechanism of action for biochar?- We know biochar improves crop yield and soil water retention, but why? Unfortunately, we don't yet have a good answer to this. Suspects include improved cation exchange capacity, increased surface area in soils, or even the presence of trace amounts of rare metals.

3. How can we efficiently couple energy and heat production with sequestration via biochar?- We do not believe that decoupled production of biochar without simultaneous production of valuable energy and/or heat is economically viable. In the developing world, the value of charcoal as a fuel source is simply too great. We support the notion of true carbon-negative energy. By generating valuable products we avoid the need for complicated carbon pricing schemes.

4. What are some non-soil uses for biochar?- If a soil carbon saturation point exists, we must consider other potential uses for carbon char. In order to avoid a future of 'carbon landfills,' we must consider what else can be done with char. Perhaps it can be used for water filtration, or conversion to activated charcoal/graphite.

Tree Farmers and Carbon Markets

The East African reports on the lack of an established mechanism for verifying emissions reductions for small  farmers who plant trees around the globe. The article cites a report by the Nairobi-based World Agriforestry Centre (Icraf) which was presented at the recent Global Conference on Climate Change in Poznan. Icraf made some specific claims regarding the price of carbon credits derived from small tree farmers:

Data shows that the value of such credits stood at $64 billion
in 2007. Icraf believes that allowing farmers to sell their carbon
credits could generate $10 billion each year and thus go a long way in
fighting poverty and deprivation.

Icraf’s position
appears to resonate with the findings of hundreds of scientists working
for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — ­that
planting trees on farms (or agroforestry) has the potential of removing
50 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

While it is great to see groups like Icraf lobbying for incentives for afforestation, we believe that these proposals must include some kind of bioenergy component, whether it is small-scale CHP or pyrolysis, to be truly viable. We also support greater transparency as groups attempt to assign a dollar value to 'ecosystem services' like emissions reductions.

Biochar Mentioned on The Huffington Post

Huffington Post contributor Carl Pope mentions biochar in a recent article discussing big solutions to big problems. While the article doesn't go into great detail, Pope cites a paper from the Rodale Institute's Tim LaSalle describing potential routes for agricultural carbon sequestration, including biochar. As always, we are happy to see biochar reaching more mainstream media outlets.

Terra Pretas not just charcoal?

A paper by Prof. Bruno Glaser of the University of Bayreuth provides new insight into the formation of ancient amazonian terra preta. Terra preta are considered the inspiration for modern biochar. Dr. Glaser asserts in his paper, published in the Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society of Biological Science, that ancient dark earths were formed not just with biochar, but also a variety of other materials:

The Terra Preta soils were generated by pre-Columbian native
populations by chance or intentionally adding large amounts of charred
residues (charcoal), organic wastes, excrements and bones. In this
paper, it is argued that generating new Terra Preta sites (‘Terra Preta
nova’) could be the basis for sustainable agriculture in the
twenty-first century to produce food for billions of people, and could
lead to attaining three Millennium Development Goals: (i) to combat
desertification, (ii) to sequester atmospheric CO₂ in the long term, and (iii) to maintain biodiversity hotspots such as tropical rainforests.

We have blogged about designer biochars before, and believe Dr. Glaser's paper could have far-reaching implications. His research indicates that the desireable effects of biochar may be ameliorated or even catalyzed by additional organic material present in soils. We will continue to investigate these results both in the laboratory and the blogosphere.

Science Daily Article on Biochar

Science Daily provides a nice overview of the biochar concept, and discusses Prof. Christopher Steiner's work to promote biochar at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poland.

"The potential of biochar lies in its ability to sequester-capture and
store-huge amounts of carbon while also displacing fossil fuel energy,
effectively doubling its carbon impact," said Steiner, a soil scientist
whose research in the Amazon Basin originally focused on the use of
biochar as a soil amendment. At UGA's Biorefinery and Carbon Cycling
Program, he now investigates the global potential of biochar to
sequester carbon. He also serves as a consultant to the UNCCD, a sister
program to the climate change convention.

Designer Biochars Soon to be a Reality?

We have blogged about the possibility of designer biochars before, referring to biochars engineered and developed for a particular soil application. Virtually every characteristic of biochar can be controlled by altering pyrolysis conditions, including nutrient concentration, microscopic structure, and density. The effects of these various characteristics are largely unknown at this time, but new research by Dr. Jeffrey M. Novak may provide some interesting results. Dr. Novak is a soil scientist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Under a cooperative agreement with the ARS, Dr. Novak will be studying "Designer Biochar Development as a Soil Amendent." This project is slated to run until May of 2010. While details are scarce at this point, the project abstract indicates that feedstock and reaction conditions will be manipulated to produce tailor-made biochar:

Biochar will be made from different feedstock material along with
different thermal and chemical activation conditions to produce
specific chemical/physical biochar characteristics. The biochars will
be designed to allow its eluviation from the surface horizon into
subsurface hard layers. Each designed biochar's sorption and leaching
characteristics in sandy soil will be evaluated using standard
isotherms and laboratory incubation techniques.

We will keep watch on any developments with this project, and applaud Dr. Novak for his efforts to expand our understanding of biochar and its capabilities.

Molybdenum and Terra Preta?

A team of Princeton University Scientists has found that tropical rainforests rely on the rare trace element molybdenum to support their productivity. Previously, it was thought that phosphorous was the limiting factor in rainforest growth, but new research by Alex Barron Phd and Prof Lars Hedin indicates that the majority of nitrogen-cycling microbes in rainforest soils depend on molybdenum. Science Daily reports:

The biological enzyme, nitrogenase, which converts atmospheric nitrogen
into soil fertilizer, feeds on molybdenum, the researchers found.
"Nitrogenase without molybdenum is like a car engine without spark
plugs," said Alexander Barron, the lead author on the paper, who was a
graduate student in Hedin's laboratory and earned his Ph.D. in ecology
and evolutionary biology from Princeton in 2007 and who now is working
on climate legislation in Congress.

The implications of this research for climate change mitigation are potentially great. The study found that rainforests treated with molybdenum withdrew more nitrogen from the atmosphere than other elements. If forest productivity and nutrient cycling ability can be increased with molybdenum, it is possible that the element could be used to sustain fast-growing afforestation plots in degraded areas. These plots could act as biological carbon sinks if coupled to on-site pyrolysis equipment.

This study also has implications for the global biochar community. Perhaps 'designer biochars' could be engineered with elevated concentrations of molybdenum and other elements to support a community of nitrogen-fixers. We congratulate Alex and Prof Hedin's lab on their success.

Obama Appoints Ken Salazar as Secretary of the Interior-- Great News for Biochar

The AP reported on Wednesday that US President-elect Barack Obama has appointed Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) as secretary of the interior in his new administration. While this pick has been largely overshadowed by the scandal involving Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, it may be the most important move by the United States government in support of pyrolysis and biochar. Senator Salazar introduced the Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007 during last year's congressional session. This bill would have provided the country's farmers with:

$280,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012, of which not
less than $30,000,000 shall be used to assist in the purchase of pyrolysis and thermochemical conversion systems

While Salazar's bill did not make the 2007 Farm Bill in its full form, it did manage to allocate $500 million for biomass research. Senator Salazar has also spoken out in favor of pyrolysis-based technologies and wide-scale adoption of biochar. We congratulate Senator Salazar on his achievment and applaud President-elect Obama for making such a thougtful and prudent choice.

the disasters that mishandled waste can create

man-made disasters from lack of proper waste disposal,so much of it could have been pyrolized and turned into biochar for the soil.

people tend to ignore the effects that waste disposal done carelessly can create. Good Magazine has a few pictures and some description of some spectacular disasters that man has wrought on the environment. Once you go through them, we should start thinking of the cumulative effects of all the little careless actions of mishandling garbage disposal all around us as we go about living our lives without thinking about the long-term damage, all these little acts of carelessness can cause to the environment and as a result to the lives of our future generations.

A travel guide to man-made disasters

Whether you want to cruise by the floating pile of plastic in the Pacific or throw some trash into the nation’s largest landfill, good has the dirt on where to go to get a close-up look at the most spectacular disasters man has wrought on the environment. Plus: What to do when you visit.

Afforestation of Degraded Areas for Fuel and Energy

Green Car Congress reports of a recent paper from several German Universities promoting afforestation of degraded lands for bioenergy production.

The solution, according to Metzger and Hüttermann, is to plant
fast-growing trees on degraded areas, and harvest the biomass for
energy usage. This afforestation would not compete with the need for
arable land for food production. The authors argue that the investment
required for afforestation and transformation of the biomass to
electrical energy, heat, fuels and chemical feedstock is actually
sustainable and not more, probably even less, than what would need to
be invested in infrastructure for non-sustainable fossil energy.

The study centers on the use of fast pyrolysis to convert biomass into bio-oil, and subsequent gasification to generate Fischer-Tropsch (FT) fuels. This is an attractive scheme for bioenergy production, as the initial pyrolysis step can be completed at the site of available biomass, dramatically reducing transportation costs. A centralized FT plant allows for efficient conversion of biooil into transportation-ready diesel fuel.

Poznan Conference Implications

The UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland wrapped up recently. We covered new developments regarding biochar and REDD, but what else was accomplished? On the whole, it would seem not a lot. From Triple Pundit:

And even though expectations for the conference weren’t high, it seemed
as if the talks were merely a pre-cursor to much more anticipated
discussions in Copenhagen next year where a new Kyoto Protocol will be
agreed upon. So what did the conference actually accomplish? Well, not
much, but some progress was made, particularly regarding deforestation
and so-called “adaptation funds” (money to help poor countries counter
the future impacts of climate change).

This points to a potential issue in the way the United Nations is approaching the issue of climate change. Can we solve the problem of rising emissions in the developing world by simply throwing money at it? Most would argue 'no.' Many developing nations lack the resources, infrastructure and political stability to solve their own climate problems. As developing countries industrialize the developed world must offer support in the form of exportable and simple technologies that can foster true sustainability.

interesting read in NY Times about lessons to learn from Europe's Cap and Trade system for carbon emmissions

interesting read in NY Times about lessons to learn from Europe's Cap and Trade system for carbon emissions

how did the cap & trade approach go so wrong in Europe for the part few years? though it seems to be getting better, the lobbying, the politics, the doling out of free credits to most big polluters, the free arbitrage profits earned by some lobbying for free credits and then selling them at market prices, having consumers pay for more than their fair share and all this with minimal impacts on emissions. disturbing story in the New York Times. this came out around the time of the Poznan talks which we all know have been a fairly diluted process. Guess, a lot to think about as President Obama and his teams decide the best way forward. one thing is for sure. handing out free credits should be a non starter....

But that plan unleashed a lobbying free-for-all that led politicians to dole out favors to various industries, undermining the environmental goals. Four years later, it is becoming clear that system has so far produced little noticeable benefit to the climate — but generated a multibillion-dollar windfall for some of the Continent’s biggest polluters.

As President-elect Barack Obama considers how to curb the gases that contribute to global warming, Europe’s struggle with the problem illustrates the momentous task ahead for the United States.

Plummeting Prices for Recyclables Presents New Opportunities

The Boston Globe reports on dropping prices for recyclable commodities such as paper, plastic and metal. With decreasing incentives to recycle these goods, many recyclers are facing diminishing revenues and the threat of insolvency. Efforts to retool recyclers' business plans have met resistance from many local residents who do not see the inherent value of recycling.

In Marshfield, which adopted a "pay-as-you-throw" program more than a
year ago, in which residents buy bags for trash, the amount of trash
and recycled paper has dipped.

Could conversion of these wastes to value-added fuel and char products via pyrolysis be an option for generating new revenue for recycling? The Telegraph reports that significant amounts of recyclable materials in the UK are already being sent to China for production of fuel and energy:

Ian Arbon, author of the report, said local authorities have no duty to track
where recycling goes once it is sold onto waste contractors. Therefore a "colossal
amount" is ending up in China where there are few environmental
restrictions to stop it being burnt as cheap fuel.

It is quite likely that upon reaching China, the majority of these wastes are burned in large CHP-style incinerators, which often generate significant amounts of complex GHGs and particulates (imagine a large pile of burning soda bottles). Furthermore, the transportation of these low-value/low-density (lv/ld) goods to China exacts a huge toll in both emissions and ocean damage. Perhaps the coupling of small-scale pyrolysis technologies with recycling plants could provide a viable alternative for local recyclers and municipalities. Rather than simply sending their wastes to the highest bidder, they could produce carbon-negative (c-) fuels and energy at home. With modular pyrolysis technologies, recyclers could increase and decrease their processing capacity as supply of material ebbs. Once proven, these technologies could be exported to china, rather than the wastes themselves.

New Uses for Poultry Waste

Treehugger reports of growing concern over ammonia emissions from poultry farms. Poultry litter has been identified as an excellent feedstock for pyrolysis, generating both a clean fuel, and a phosphorous-rich form of biochar. Could this be a solution to the emissions problem? From treehugger:

For starters, broiler producers in the ten states with the most poultry
farms unleashed a massive 481,764,049 pounds of ammonia in 2007,
multiple studies have shown. Though there aren't any specified air
quality standards for ammonia put forth by the EPA, companies are
nonetheless required to report their emissions.

European climate deal - how diluted is it?

an interesting analysis that sheds some light on the various loose ends of the climate deal reached in Brussels last week. how does one get to an agreement that claims to bring emissions down 20% from 1990 levels, but then when you look at it closer, it drops down to as little as 4% real reduction.

Europe has a head start on this goal as emissions have decreased since 1990, especially because of the enlargement of the EU to include eastern European countries.

So to achieve the goal Europe actually needs a further reduction of about 12% from 1990 levels.

The plan allows European countries to offset 3% or 4% of their emissions reductions via paying for emissions reductions in developing countries (a dodgy proposition, but I digress). This means that the emissions reductions will not occur in Europe. So this reduces to the goal to about 9%.

biochar now - UNCCD and UNFCCC - UN Framework

very interesting read: use of biochar to replenish soil carbon pools, restore soil fertility and sequester CO2

and the related UNCCD site covering the Poznan climate talks

biochar is being presented as a mitigation and adaptation technology to be considered in the post -2012 Copenhagen agenda of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

biochar can help reduce the effects of global warming as it helps to sequester the carbon in the form of very stable charcoal. it helps enhance the quality of the soil and could go a long way in reversing some of the desertification effects and helping improve the quality of very degraded soil. with the soil retaining a lot of carbon in the form of biochar, it all adds up to reducing the amount of carbon going into the environment and hence reducing carbon emissions. no wonder, the UNCCD has followed this line of thinking and after rigorous analysis, has pushed for CDM considerations.

this stands a much higher chance of success than say REDD via holding standing forests as biochar is very easily measurable and actually at the margin helps a lot with carbon sequestration. forests do the same as well. except not easy to measure carbon retained over long periods of time.

interesting study released: Emissions of Greenhouse gases in United States 2007

it's worth a close look. the report can be found at this link on the EIA Site.
some of the quoted highlights

Total Emissions
Total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 were 1.4 percent above the 2006 total.  Total emissions growth—from 7,179.7 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) in 2006 to 7,282.4 MMTCO2e in 2007—was largely the result of a 75.9-MMTCO2e increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. There were larger percentage increases in emissions of other greenhouse gases, but their absolute contributions to total emissions growth were relatively small: 13.0 MMTCO2e for methane (CH4), 8.2 MMTCO2e for nitrous oxide, and 5.6 MMTCO2e for the man-made gases with high global warming potentials (high-GWP gases)  (Table 1 below). The increase in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2007 resulted primarily from two factors: unfavorable weather conditions, which increased demand for heating and cooling in buildings; and a drop in hydropower availability that led to greater reliance on fossil energy sources (coal and natural gas) for electricity generation, increasing the carbon intensity of the power supply. Methane emissions totaled 699.9 MMTCO2e in 2007 (Figure 1 at right), up by 13.0 MMTCO2e from 2006, with increases in emissions from energy sources, waste management, and agriculture. U.S. emissions of high-GWP gases, which totaled 176.9 MMTCO2e in 2007, were 5.6 MMTCO2e above the 2006 total. The increase resulted mainly from higher emissions levels for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs, up by 4.1 MMTCO2e) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs, up by 2.0 MMTCO2e). Emissions of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) were down by 0.5 MMTCO2e.

Wind, water and sun beat biofuels, nuclear and coal for clean energy, Stanford researcher says

The best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and
reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are blowing in the
wind and rippling in the water, not growing on prairies or glowing
inside nuclear power plants, says Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of
civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. (source: science codex)

treehugger: Since the internet loves lists, here are our best-to-worst energy
options if we want to improve energy security, mitigate global warming
and reduce air pollution, according to Stanford University professor of
civil and environmental engineering Mark Z Jacobson: 1) Wind power, 2)
Concentrated Solar power, 3) Geothermal, 4) Tidal, 5) Solar
Photovoltaics, 6) Wave Power, 7) Hydroelectric, 8) Nuclear & Coal
with carbon capture and storage (tied for last and which he recommends
not using at all).

Poznan, Poland sites, news worth following (United Nations Climate Change Conference) - Dec 1 to 12th

you can follow the events and proceedings on this site:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

and of course, a lot is being discussed recently within developing countries like Guyana regarding its recent REDD submissions. many of the REDD related issues can be followed via the following
REDD information sharing platform.

we believe that it's a comprehensive source of information related to the climate issues in general and the REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation)

Poznan press briefing on the eighth day of the Conference

daily blogs from the site

UN News center

what is the carbon storage ability of stable biochar?

this is a question being addressed by the scientific community and got some further mention at the Posnan event in Poland. Cornell University's Johannes Lehmann believes that number is anywhere from high hundreds to a few thousand years. Wouldn't that be just a very cost effective way to help with sequestering carbon if the associated pyrolysis technologies can be made to work cost effectively, and implemented as small scale distributed units that can bring the solution closer to the available biomass and waste sources that are the ideal inputs.

Man from ancient times has taken advantage of plowing charred plants into the soil although open combustion or even as charcoal leads to a loss of a lot of the carbon in the process. Pyrolysis does that today in settings where a lot of the carbon is trapped into the biochar and the whole process is actually carbon negative, besides helping capture that carbon as a very stable form. This biochar is then a great soil enhancer.

In countries where there is lot of low quality biomass, wastes, forestry wastes etc, this means of biochar production can go a long way in lowering the costs of other fertilizers etc currently used by the farmers who are complaining about the spike in price of fertilizers globally.