Science Forums 2

[Michaelangelica]

HOME

An anti TP article

Notes on the debate over sustainability of pyrolization of biomass ...
If you wish to add in other factors, along with the charcoal, then the discussion will be very different. Charcoal, by itself, as an addition to soil,

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ik=55ad...x=j14bp7fe183x.

Occasional Randomness: Saving the World, Destroying the Rainforest

the addition of carbon decreased root size, nodule number and nodule size.

SpringerLink - Journal Article

The Ergosphere: Sustainability, energy independence and agricultural policy

Paying farmers to take carbon out of the air and put it in the ground, out of reach (e.g. as charcoal mixed with earth) could be the ultimate price backstop for anything they grew. The risk of price collapses due to bumper harvests would be a thing of the past; sequestration would be the ultimate backup "market" able to absorb anything beyond marketable quantities.

SANET-MG Archives -- September 2006 (#65)

Back

Carbon negative energy to reverse global warming

Back

Dr. Ogawa, from Kansai Environmental in Japan, a division of Kansai
Power the 2nd largest electric producer in that country, presented
their research on charcoal addition to the soil.
Their work, which has
been ongoing for more than 15 years, has been studying the causes of
the charcoal effect and led to thee Japanese government approving
charcoal as an official land management practice.
The impact of manystudies in Brazil to Thailand to Japan, showing increased crop yields of 20-50% and total biomass yields increasing as much 280%, led Kansai Electric to fund a reforestation research plantation in Australia with Dr. Syd Shea for producing charcoal and returning it to grow more trees and crops in the arid west of that country.

Low temperature woody charcoal (not grass or high cellulose) has an
interior layer of bio-oil condensates that microbes consume and is
equal to glucose in its effect on microbial growth (Christoph Steiner,
EACU 2004).
High temp char loses this layer and does not promote soil
fertility very well. Tests by Finnish researcher Janna Pitkien, on
highly porous materials like zeolite, activated carbon and charcoal
show that microbial growth is substantially improved with charcoal
. . .
What we know now is that the properly prepared charcoal can increase
crop yields and sequester carbon for thousands of years (5000 years is
an estimate by Dan Gavin, charcoal dating researcher.(U. of Ill). Its
properties can allow even more carbon to be sequestered with more
biomass growth and soil carbon from microbial-fungi proliferation.
. . .

we have the capability to go carbon negative today. As we make
the switch, it will need to be a global effort as positive feedbacks
are kicking in and will likely accelerate.

What about areas for use? Considering the 6.1 gigatons of CO2
accumulation, we would need to utilize this land and biomass
production technique on only 10% of the total of biologically
productive and human degraded lands per year to attain carbon negative
status.
If we added desert lands for reclamation the number declines
further. Is is a big number, yes, but it is doable and a culture from
2000 years ago clearly understood its value then. Considering that
the majority of new emissions will come from developing countries,
what ever we choose, needs to be simple and profitable.

What can you do? Read up on terra preta
. . .

Then tell everyone you know.