Terra Preta in the news

[Eclipse Now]

Biochar is just one of many "waste = food" systems thinking that makes me wonder how the industrialists didn't convert the industrial production system into a permaculture industrial ecosystem a long time ago. There are so many levels on which new permaculture systems thinking can be incorporated into industrial design.

If we use separation toilets, as is starting in some new EU member countries, then the urine can easily be converted into fertiliser. Better than that, "Cradle to Cradle" thinking is slowly redesigning ALL industrial products so that not just this life, but the "next incarnation" of the product are considered.

It's summed up in the slogan "Waste = food".

Carpets can be manufactured with non-toxic fibres and dyes, and can be so natural that waste carpet products are actually purchased by farmers (in Germany) to prevent frosts destroying soil health and the carpet biodegrades into the vineyard soils. (I think it was vineyards).

All products are recycled back into either the biological or industrial system. Metals are recycled, new forms of plastic are recycled without any degradation, and the city becomes a living, breathing, sustainable ecosystem. Waste = food. Local renewable power, local food, sustainable local woods, fibres, concretes, etc... it's possible.

So, if we combine urine reclamation with biochar and the "crop and cow" rotation methods described in "The Omnivore's dilemma" then we can really see the potential for a post-oil agricultural and design sector that works.

[Essay]

Originally Posted by Eclipse Now

Biochar is ...the potential for a post-oil agricultural and design sector that works.

Very logical and compelling.

Worthy as a suggestion for the Obama Transition Team:
Change.gov | momentvision

hint, hint, hint....

~

[erich]

Hi Listers,
Lots of stuff reported here that I was unaware of;

Biofuels Digest
The world's most widely read biofuels daily

Time Magazine, The Independent (UK) profile pyrolysis of biomass into biochar as CO2-reducing strategy : Biofuels Digest

# Logical Innovations, Siemens install new controls for USDA’s fast pyrolysis test system in Pennsylvania
# In Pennsylvania, Siemens Energy & Automation and the USDA Agricultural Research Service announced a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to development improvements in a fast pyr...UK Carbon Trust launches $10 million Pyrolysis Challenge to stimulate research efforts
# In the UK, The Carbon Trust has launched The Pyrolysis Challenge, under which the Trust will contribute $10 million in matching funds towards research in producing a pyrolysis-based oil that can be di...UOP and Ensyn announce JV for fast pyrolysis energy venture to produce green gasoline, diesel and jet fuel
# In New Jersey, UOP Honeywell and Ensyn announced a joint venture to commercialize Ensyn's fast pyrolysis process for converting crop and forest residues to energy. Ensyn's "rapid thermal-processing...Dynamotive signs feedstock agreements in Argentina for fast pyrolysis-based bio-oil
# Dynamotive Energy Systems announced contracts for the provision of biomass for two of its proposed plants in the Province of Corrientes in Argentina. Negotiations in regard to the site are progressing...UK’s Carbon Trust pledges $10 million for pyrolysis research; process creates synthetic crude from biomass
In England, The Carbon Trust has pledged $10 million to fund pyrolysis projects. Pyrolysis is the chemical decomposition of organic materials by heating in the absence of oxygen or other reagents R...

[Eclipse Now]

From their latest update, it seems biochar is being considered at the UN level to help combat desertification.

POZNAN, Poland, December 10, 2008 - The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) announces that the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has submitted a proposal to include biochar as a mitigation and adaptation technology to be considered in the post-2012-Copenhagen agenda of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). A copy of the proposal is posted on the IBI website at
The International Biochar Initiative (IBI).

Biochar is a fine-grained, highly porous charcoal that helps soils retain nutrients and water. The carbon in biochar resists degradation and can sequester carbon in soils for hundreds to thousands of years.

IBI Executive Director Debbie Reed said, "The UNCCD submission is a great success, and is paralleled by a lot of very positive discussions and interest in biochar amongst country delegates as well as observers of the process."

The UNCCD, a sister convention to the UNFCCC, has identified biochar as a unique opportunity to address soils as a carbon sink. According to the submission document: "The world's soils hold more organic carbon than that held by the atmosphere as CO2 and vegetation, yet the role of the soil in capturing and storing carbon dioxide is often one missing information layer in taking into consideration the importance of the land in mitigating climate change."

UNCCD proposes that biochar must be considered as a vital tool for rehabilitation of dryland soils: "The fact that many of the drylands soils have been degraded means that they are currently far from saturated with carbon and their potential to sequester carbon may be very high ... making the consideration of Biochar, as a strategy for enhancing soils carbon sequestration, imperative."

UNCCD also cites the ability of biochar to address multiple climate and development concerns while avoiding the disadvantages of other bioenergy technologies that deplete soil organic matter (SOM). IBI Executive Director Debbie Reed said, "Pyrolysis systems that produce biochar can provide many advantages. Biochar restores soil organic carbon and soil fertility, reduces emissions from agriculture, and can provide clean, renewable energy. Conventional biomass energy competes with soil building needs for crop residue feedstocks, but biochar accommodates both uses."

Reduced deforestation is another biochar advantage cited by the UNCCD in their submitted proposal for including biochar in carbon trading mechanisms: "The carbon trade could provide an incentive to cease further deforestation; instead reforestation and recuperation of degraded land for fuel and food crops would gain magnitude."

Craig Sams, founder of Green & Black's Organic Chocolate, is in Poznan to help educate delegates about biochar. Sams believes that the climate and ancillary benefits of biochar are so great that biochar systems should be eligible for double credits. Sams said, "Adding the rewards for abandoning carbon emitting practices such as slash and burn cultivation, deforestation and wood fire cooking, to the rewards for adopting biochar practices in agriculture, forestry and cooking, ought to qualify for double credits."

UNCCD proposes to include biochar in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and to revise the rules to account for biochar as a permanent means of carbon capture. UNCCD also proposes adjusting the carbon offset rules to allow greater financial flows to help developing countries increase soil organic matter with biochar.

Biochar has one important additional advantage over other land use carbon sequestration projects - carbon sequestration through biochar is easy to quantify. It is also relatively permanent. The UNCCD says: "Potential drawbacks such as difficulty in estimating greenhouse gas removals and emissions resulting from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), or destruction of sinks through forest fire or disease do not apply to biochar soil amendments."

Overall, the potential magnitude of biochar as a climate mitigation tool is great. IBI Board Chair Dr. Johannes Lehmann said, "We are pleased that the UNCCD has recognized the potential of biochar. Results from IBI's preliminary model to estimate the potential of biochar carbon sequestration show that biochar production from agriculture and forestry residues can potentially sequester one gigaton of carbon in the world's soils annually by 2040. Using the biochar energy co-product to displace fossil fuel energy can approximately double the carbon impact of biochar alone."

IBI's objective for the remainder of the UN meeting at Poznan is to interest more countries in proposing biochar for consideration as a mitigation and adaptation technology in the post-2012 Copenhagen process of the UNFCCC.

About IBI
The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) is a registered non-profit organization that serves as an international platform for the exchange of information and activities in support of biochar research, development, demonstration and commercialization. IBI participants comprise a consortium of researchers, commercial entities, policy makers, development agents, farmers and gardeners and others committed to supporting sustainable biochar production and utilization systems that remove carbon from the atmosphere and enhance the earth's soils.
The International Biochar Initiative (IBI)

[froggy]

Originally Posted by Eclipse Now

From their latest update, it seems biochar is being considered at the UN level to help combat desertification.

As it should.

Tho, one has to wonder where all the biomass feedstocks are coming from? Quickly the answer comes to grasses and other annual feedstocks and not woodies. And the logistics of moving that much carbon is daunting and energy intensive.

The good news is that modern humans have much better technology than 'Terra Preta people' and can likely sequester carbon at a much faster rate. The bad news is that maybe like many things, you cant rush the wine before its time...if biology is at work, that might take time to get the results we want. I have great faith in science to mimic nature and speed things up but am old and wise enough to know that faster isnt always the best way to do things right.

[Eclipse Now]

Hi Froggy,
I think I agree. The feedstock could come from the desert itself once we got things started.

Chicken and egg?

I like

"Greening the desert"

, a Youtube 5 minute video about hell on earth being turned into a permaculture garden paradise with 1/5 the water usually required.

After setting up a few km's of this kind of desert garden, the garden waste, weeding, prunning, etc could stock a local biochar unit and with the biochar plant geared up the right way, maybe even give the locals some biodiesel as well?

[Nitack]

Originally Posted by Eclipse Now

Hi Froggy,
I think I agree. The feedstock could come from the desert itself once we got things started.

Chicken and egg?

I like "Greening the desert", a Youtube 5 minute video about hell on earth being turned into a permaculture garden paradise with 1/5 the water usually required.

After setting up a few km's of this kind of desert garden, the garden waste, weeding, prunning, etc could stock a local biochar unit and with the biochar plant geared up the right way, maybe even give the locals some biodiesel as well?

That was one of the most inspiring videos I have ever seen.

[Eclipse Now]

The thing is, it seems a fairly labour intensive way of farming. Monocropping in straight lines or broad open fields allows certain machinery etc to be used. AND they still used drip irrigation, but to their credit 1/5th the water normally used.

Yet if we are to take that video at face value, a local farmer's market and eco-village style living might really be possible in some far more inhospitable places than previously thought. Add a solar power plant, and some desal water, and there is a whole new style of sustainable living. Anyway, I'm so interested in this subject because it seems we could both Green the desert (see new thread on this subject) and Reinvent our cities through new zoning plans (see new thread on THIS subject). Combined with Biochar, I think we have some answers. On my blog I call it the "Radical R's".

# REZONE for New Urbanism
# RAIL (Trains, trams, and trolley buses)
# RENEWABLE energy
# REDESIGN Industrial Ecosystems
# REPLENISH soil with Biochar
# RESTORE local ecosystems
# REDUCE global population
# REFORM Global Government

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Nitack

That was one of the most inspiring videos I have ever seen.

Yes, agreed, I pinched a quote from it-but had lost the link
"All the world's problems can be solved in a garden. . .Not many people know that"
SEE
Permaculture discussion forum • View topic - Greening the Deserts
Also my worries/comments about the approach being applied to all deserts at the end of the thread

[froggy]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

"All the world's problems can be solved in a garden. . .Not many people know that"[/SIZE]

I also plan on using this line.