Terra preta

[freeztar]

[quote=Michaelangelica;218022]

Slash and Char as Alternative to Slash and Burn [Cuvillier Verlag]

Sweet!

Sentences such as this make me wonder:

This newly described agricultural practice has important implications for the earth’s carbon budget and sustainability in tropical agriculture.

Perhaps this is one of those rare occasions where it seems the science is behind the times.

[Michaelangelica]

Agreed,
a bit sad really.
But how do you convince people that burning things is good for a burning planet?

PS
Do you want to move this thread with a (German) tag to the TP sub forum?
or is it best to leave it here?

[sanctus]

Ich würde sagen, dass wir den Thread hier lassen, aber falls es weitere englische Kommentare geben sollte, einen neuen im TP Forum zu starten, der an diesen hier linkt.

Translation:
I would say that we leave this thread here, but in the case that there are other english comments, start a new thread in the TP forum which links back to this one.

[Michaelangelica]

Making the Most of Manure
By Ann Perry
October 1, 2008

Manure from livestock could someday be used as a value-added bioenergy fuel for on-farm heating and power, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists studying this approach.

This will be good news to U.S. livestock producers, who need environmentally friendly ways to manage the manure generated by about 96.7 million cattle and 67.7 million hogs and pigs.

ARS agricultural engineer Keri Cantrell, environmental engineer Kyoung Ro, and research leader Patrick Hunt work at the ARS Coastal Plains Soil, Water and Plant Research Center in Florence, S.C. They have teamed up to study how to use a technique called wet gasification to convert wet manure slurry into energy-rich gases and produce relatively clean water.

The team developed a cost-benefit model of a wet gasification technology patented by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to calculate estimated returns, and concluded that liquid swine wastes can generate a net energy potential comparable to brown coal.

The ARS researchers are also investigating methods for producing a type of charcoal—or biochar—called “green coal” from manure. Green coal can be burned on the farm for energy or transported offsite to coal plants for fuel. It can also be added to the soil, a practice that would reduce greenhouse gases by permanently sequestering carbon in the soil in the form of the green coal.

Making the Most of Manure / October 1, 2008 / News from the USDA Agricultural Research Service