BIOCHAR CAN HELP TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE
Could biochar potentially be used to fix nutrients to sustain and increase C Storage in thawing - decompositioning soils?
Higher temperature and decompo- sition rates can also increase nutrient availability, which often has a greater effect on plant growth than temperature (Chapin and Shaver 1996). Decomposition of soil C (in- cluding thawed permafrost C) with concomitant nutrient release could actually increase total ecosystem C storage if low C:N soil organic matter is replaced by higher C:N plant biomass (Shaver et al. 2000). http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/resources/Schuur.pdf
SOIL AMENDMENTBiochar can be used as a soil amendment to improve yield, improve water quality, reduce soil emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce nutrient leaching, reduce soil acidity, and reduce irrigation and fertilizer requirementshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported Biochar as a key technology for reaching low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration targets. The negative emissions that can be produced by Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has been estimated by the Royal Society to be equivalent to a 50 to 150 ppm decrease in global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Annual net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide could be reduced by a maximum of 1.8 Pg CO2-C equivalent (CO2-Ce) per year (12% of current anthropogenic CO2-Ce emissions; 1 Pg=1 Gt), and total net emissions over the course of a century by 130 Pg CO2-Ce, without endangering food security, habitat or soil conservation. WikipediaRelated Nitrous oxide emission reduction in temperate biochar-amended soil (2011) - Climate Change Mitigation from Pyrolysis- - Beaulieu and Tank suggest that reductions in nitrous oxide emissions from stream and river networks can be achieved through changes in urban and agricultural land use patterns, such as reduced agricultural fertilizer application.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHRIS MACHENS
Editor in chief at Climate Progress Network.
info@climateprogress.net http://galaxymachine.de
COMMENTS (2)
ERICH J. KNIGHT
10 August 2012 at 03:07 | #
To review the broad scope of Biochar applications please read the text of my opening talk at the Sonoma Biochar conference.
If it intrigues you, you may hit the links and many citations, these cover the paleoclimatic rationale, the carbon conservation philosophy, many of the industrial practitioners and long-term academic programs & field trials.
If you are tantalized by the Biochar platform for biofuels, the cutting edge Big dog, Elephant in the room, at the Sonoma Biochar conference was CoolPlanet Energy Systems. In a nutshell, they have such control over carbon bonding in their thermal conversion process, they can squeeze out 75 gallons of bio- gasoline and 1/3 ton of Biochar from one ton of biomass.Their tag line; "The more you Drive… The Cleaner the Atmosphere". They state their production cost at $1.25/gallon, they turn a dial and can produce $2/gallon jet fuel. I can hear you saying this is too good to be true, however Google, GE, BP and Conoco believe it is true.
CoolPlanet Biofuel's CEO Explains his energy cycle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkYVlZ9v_0o
This all leaves me very optimistic, for the CEO and Google share the same ethos, farm scale skid mounted reactors will be the first to production next year. This farmer friendly, scalable reactor, they plan to deploy at the village scale in the Third World and at the farmer scale here.
I believe this technology will allow the American public to have their carbon free energy lunch without paying a premium for it.
Cheers,
Erich
Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
1047 Dave Berry Rd. McGaheysville, VA. 22840
540-289-9750
In case you are having a problem finding my presentation PDF file with the PowerPoint slides, navigation is a little awkward, here is the link:
http://2012.biochar.us.com/299/2012-us-biochar-conference-presentations
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Carbon Conservation for Home, Health, Energy & Climate
CHRIS MACHENS
10 August 2012 at 12:00 | #
Thank you for this insightful comment Erich. I blogged about it here http://biochar.be and will later check out the conference presentations.
Cheers
+++++++++
Farm Scale Skid Mounted Biochar Reactors in 2013... Everyone who cares about a sustainable future should be excited!!! Monte & Eileen Hines
Carbon Conservation for Home, Health, Energy & Climate
CHRIS MACHENS
10 August 2012 at 12:00 | #
Thank you for this insightful comment Erich. I blogged about it here http://biochar.be and will later check out the conference presentations.
Cheers
+++++++++
Farm Scale Skid Mounted Biochar Reactors in 2013... Everyone who cares about a sustainable future should be excited!!! Monte & Eileen Hines
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