Biochar Explained ... Climate Change Reduction and Slowing of Global Warming - The Agroforester

Planet Earth has so many parts and subparts, elementary speaking. Many of these are finite, however they are distributed in ways that are out of balance. Carbon, for instance, is finite but in different forms and spread into places where it may be very detrimental to the natural weather processes that we feel everyday. The best set of non-technical comments regarding biochar, a field that is sure to become a new science, are in the below excerpt by Victoria Kamsler, D.Phil. Each of us can make a tiny difference that when combined with all other tiny contributions can actually make the change we need. Please take the time to read the following with great interest and learn about biochar: The following is courtesy of Victoria Kamsler, D.Phil, Chief Ethics Officer and Research Director, Greenfiniti "Here is a brief description of Biochar, which may be helpful for you.

Biochar is the modern version of an ancient Pre-Colombian technology invented by the Mayan civilization to enhance soil fertility. Similar to charcoal, it is created by pyrolysis (burning in low oxygen conditions) of biomass: agricultural waste, dead trees, etc. Called terra preta (prepared earth) in Brazil, the first thing to know about biochar is that it is a way of permanently removing CO2 greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. The carbon from biomass, when pyrolyzed, can remain in the soil for hundreds or thousands of years. We know this because some of the terra preta soils of the Amazon are 2000 years old. And these ancient soils are still so fertile after all this time that there is an industry in Brazil to collect these soils and put them in bags to sell as potting soil.

Biochar is the only true carbon *reductive* technology that exists. Other technologies that claim to take CO2 out of the atmosphere, like geoengineering, and traditional carbon capture and storage (CCS) are fatally flawed from a technical point of view, although it now appears that oil, coal, and mining companies are about to put 100's of billions of dollars into CCS that won't work (so they can make money taking carbon out of the earth and then make more money putting it back into the old mines). Other 'green' technologies, like solar and wind, merely reduce the amount of CO2 that goes in to the atmosphere. Biochar takes carbon out of the air and puts it in the soil, where it makes the soil fertile. So biochar is unique in its ability to help humanity solve the climate change problem by taking carbon *out* of the atmosphere.

Harold, because of your interests I will quickly say here that biochar can be used as an addition for *smell free* humanure composting toilets. The carbon controls odors, and the resulting compost can be much more fertile than humanure alone. I can recommend people in the Biochar Offsets group who have done this research or know about it. Regarding Boudewijn's interests, I believe that biochar can be used as an addition to pavements. I know less about this, but if you are doing zero- or low-carbon concrete, there may be applications that could help make some of your building projects carbon *negative* instead of just carbon neutral.

Biochar is also a source of revenue, especially for developing countries. There are many different pyrolysis technologies available and in development. All of them produce char, which can be sold or used on site. Biochar may soon be eligible for agricultural soil carbon credits both from the UN and in the US and Canada cap and trade systems. My Biochar Protocol subgroup of the Biochar Offsets group is right now drafting the world's first offset validation protocol for biochar which we anticipate will be ready in late June. And some biochar technologies are also capable of producing different forms of renewable energy: bio oil, syngas, heat and electricity. These can be used for electricity to light homes so people can work and read at night. These renewable energy components of biochar production are already eligible for the UN's CDM (Kyoto compliance) market offsets. These are the most valuable offsets on the global market and the easiest to sell. Prices now are around 30-40 Euros per offset (representing one tonne of CO2 equivalent).
But this just scratches the surface of what we know about what biochar can do. Biochar is the Swiss Army knife, or the "killer app" of climate solutions. Here is a quick list of some applications:

1) Soil Fertility
Field tests by Biochar Fund in Cameroon
http://www.biocharfund.org
have demonstrated up to 220% yield increase in maize crops in degraded soil in one season with addition of biochar to the soil. Although it works in many different soil conditions, and possibly all, we know that biochar works especially well in degraded soils, and in the tropics. That is where the results are truly spectacular. Biochar Fund recently received a $300k grant from Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai's organization for additional biochar projects in Kenya, after their spectacular results in Cameroon.

2) Farms & gardens
Biochar holds nitrogen and water. This means that farmers can use less water and less fertilizer. They can make biochar from their wastes and use It in their own fields without transportation. Different technologies are being developed that are optimized for different agricultural inputs, like rice husks, coconut shells, etc. Less fertilizer use also means:

3) Pollution prevention
Biochar prevents runoff of nitrogen into waterways, thus preventing human deaths (blue baby syndrome) and preventing the growth of "dead zones" from nitrogen-induced algae blooms in the ocean. Biochar may also be able to remediate other soil contaminant chemicals, though people in our Invasives, subgroup know more than I do.

4) Invasive species control
It just so happens that the characteristic features of invasive species (like kudzu in the southern US, cat tails and striga in Africa, and water hyacinth in Africa and India) map almost exactly on to the list of most desirable characteristics for biochar production. I don't know which invasive species you have in Haiti, but this is what to do with them. The manager of our Invasives subgroup is a well known expert who has compiled the evidence for this conclusion.

5) Reforestation
We all know that Haiti is one of the most severely deforested places on earth. Look at an aerial photo of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic: green on one side, brown on the other. This is one of the main causes of the critical clean water situation in Haiti, which was already a huge problem before the quake. Biochar is ideal for smart, integrated agroforestry and reforestation programs. It will literally "change the earth."

There are many other things to mention, but I will conclude with:

5) Stoves
As you may know, the World Health Organization estimates that approximately 1.6 million people, mostly women and young children, die *every* *year* from smoke inhalation from traditional cookstoves. Biochar stoves are emission free and can solve this problem while creating biochar for fertile kitchen gardens, and some stoves can even create electricity for home lighting or cellphone charging.

Pyrolysis equipment exists in different sizes and many different types, from small and very cheap ($6-8 dollars, some may be less, and I think some can be made with local scrap) all the way to municipal scale.

This is why people in the Biochar Offsets group are so passionate about this emerging technology and why we started Biochar Haiti. We believe that biochar can play a key role in the sanitation, health, and food security needs of the Haitian people. It is why people like Bill Clinton support biochar for economic development. Our Biochar Haiti wants to help bring a new biochar industry to Haiti to restore the forests and make the soil fruitful for the people of Haiti, while creating jobs and income.

You can find out more at the excellent website of the International Biochar Initiative: 

http://www.biochar-international.org/ 

Victoria
Victoria Kamsler, D.Phil
Chair of the Biochar Offsets Group (a LinkedIn Group)"