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Re: Terra Preta in the news
And here's a good example of TP NOT in the news...
This is from the weekly Environmental Technical Assistance Program (ETAP) newsletter.
Quote:
The report said that although biofuels can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this potential benefit depends heavily on land use changes, choice of feedstock, agricultural practices, refining techniques, and end-use practices. For example, the report said that if prairie grassland were converted to maize or soy, treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and refined using coal and natural gas, the resulting biofuel could have greater impact on the Earth's climate than fossil fuels.
The report also said that bioenergy crops can further contribute to global climate change if they replace primary forests, because deforestation releases large amounts of carbon from the soil that can "negate any benefits from biofuels for decades." Cutting down forests to plant energy crops also can leach nutrients from the soil and decrease biodiversity, the report said.
As a result, the report advised farmers to rely less on grain crops to produce biofuels because these crops require high fossil energy inputs (such as conventional fertilizer) and large amounts of farmland. They also have relatively low energy yields per hectare.
Instead, according to the report, farmers should use perennial grasses and other dedicated energy crops that are appropriate to the regions where they are planted and do not require clearing large amounts of environmentally sensitive land.
The report, Sustainable Energy: A Framework for Decision Makers, is available at ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1094e/a1094e00.pdf.
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Ahem...pyrolysis anyone?
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Hypography Science Forums Moderator
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"There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew." - Marshall McLuhan
"We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it." - Marie Curie
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