[steam_cannon]

I think it makes a whole lot of sense putting Co2 back into the soil
in the form of activated charcoal, where it just may prepare our soils
for post-oil farming, save us from the worst of the "Dieoff
nightmares", reduce the amount of fertiliser necessary, AND
sequester the Co2 permanently in the soil.

Or not change a damned thing. Biochar is a technology used by lost civilizations
and desperate people. It's great for the garden though.

Origin of terra preta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta

For a long time, the origins of the Amazonian dark earths were not
immediately clear and several theories were considered. One idea
was that they resulted from ashfall from volcanoes in the Andes,
since they occur more frequently on the brows of higher terraces.
Another theory considered formation as a result of sedimentation in
Tertiary lakes or in recent ponds.

However, because of their elevated charcoal content and the
common presence of pottery remains, it is now widely accepted that
these soils are a product of indigenous soil management involving a
labor intensive technique termed slash-and-char. The technique is
differentiated from slash and burn by a lower temperature burn and
in being a tool for soil improvement. Amending soil with low
temperature charcoal produced from a mix of wood and leafy
biomass (termed biochar) has been observed to increase the
activity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. It is theorized that terra
preta self-propagates via this mechanism; a virtuous cycle
established as the fungus spreads from the charcoal, fixing
additional carbon and stabilizing the soil with glomalin, and
increasing nutrient availability for nearby plants. The widespread
peregrine earthworm Pontoscolex corethrurus (Oligochaeta:
Glossoscolecidae), which thrives after burning of the rainforest, due
to its tolerance of a low content of the soil in organic matter, has
been shown to ingest pieces of charcoal and to mix them in a finely
ground form with the mineral soil, pointing to its possible role in the
formation of terra preta.

About 10% of the original terra comum appears to have converted
to terra preta. Whether all Amazonian dark earth was intentionally
created for soil improvement or whether the lightest variants are a
by-product of habitation is not clear at present time. This is in part
due to the varied features of the dark earths throughout the
Amazon Basin. Thus suggesting the existence of an extensive
ancient native civilization dating back 500 to 2500 years bp.

Nice article

Terra Preta: Black is the New Green
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004815.html

"believes that a strategy combining biochar with biofuels could
ultimately offset 9.5 billion tons of carbon per year-an amount equal
to the total current fossil fuel emissions!"

...While a global rollout of terra preta is still a ways away, it heralds
yet another transformation of waste into resources.

Including biofuels in an offset estimate is like including oil in an
estimate to offset oil. Aside from that, I do agree that biochar is one
our best bets at putting the Genie back in the bottle. I also agree
with the author that implementing biochar schemes on most farms
is a long way away, as in "if we started this project 50 years ago..."
Also if you scroll up and look at that efficiency chart, it would take "a lot"
of crop wastes to get near this authors estimates. The bucket of
biochar I made this week won't offset the driving I did this week or
anybody else's...

Unless we can get the USA and China to CLOSE 2 coal power plants
each week (instead of opening 2 a week as is the trend), then I
pray that Biochar systems will take off — and fast.

The Chinese aren't into gods or praying, but like us the enjoy coal,
driving and they want more. Praying is what people do when they
can't do anything or are too lazy to do anything. Ya know pray if it
makes you feel better, but keep this in mind...

Can biochar save this world?


"We were born, we want our fair share! We want a life, we want
sex, we want to make more people! More! More! More!"



Biochar is a great technology, a tech to keep an eye on and
something to get into if you like to do things. But don't go home
after reading this and think everything will be ok. This is a helpful
technology, but don't think you should go and burn tires because
someone can offset it with biochar. We aren't there yet and with
so many people on this planet, a lot of things will have to change
before we get there.

[steam_cannon]

No no no! My gladiator Atlantis ray-gun movie was real, it was
real! I just know it was, I can feel it in my waters!

( I want to jump back in time and see that big boom from a safe
distance. Does that make me evil?)

Just a second, let me get out my sarcasm detector...

[eclipse]

Steam cannon... I reckon we have the technology and new systems approaches to solve these threats. The job of biochar is to fertilise the soil and lock away carbon. It's very good at that. A wind turbine produces electricity. It's very good at that. A tram can use that electricity, it's very good at that. Velib bike sharing agreements can integrate into public transport systems for those last few km's... another success.
Recycling our sewerage (after all heavy metal dumping is prohibited) is also quite effective at saving phosphorus. Richard Register says we can design cities that only require 10% of today's energy use, and yet STILL be largely "first world" cities with very attractive lifestyle bonuses. And a UN study says that for every 3 years of education a woman receives she'll have 1 less baby.

There are solutions to each problem. I just have a problem when someone demands that one solution for one problem be all solutions for all problems. We KNOW how to do this... it just requires massive, massive social, cultural, and legal changes. And they are already starting... if I can help push things in the right direction, then all the better.

[spiritof1976]

We seem to be hearing increasingly more about biochar as a means of sequestering carbon and thereby reversing global warming.

More info here, for those who haven't heard of it: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... 97513.html

As a method of saving us from runaway climate change, it seems a lot more feasible than giant mirrors in space, so fingers crossed.

[Ludi]

Can you talk about your own experiments with biochar? Thanks.

[spiritof1976]

That would be a bit tricky, since I haven't done any, though if anyone here has, I'd be interested to hear about the results.

[Tanada]

That would be a bit tricky, since I haven't done any, though if anyone here has, I'd be interested to hear about the results.

Working on a very small scale I am trying it but so far no results. I only learned about it a couple months ago so fall was done by then and so on and so forth. The theory seems sound, it worked for the Amazonian Indian culture before European disease wiped out their civilization and I have great hopes, not as a global warming countermeasure but as the 'black' agriculture revolution some predict. So far in the few field tests I have read about the biochar does a top notch job of retaining nutrients in the soil where the plants can access it.

[mos6507]

In theory it sounds like it should help but if you just look at the scale of the task of carbon sequestration, I don't think it can help that much.

[spiritof1976]

In theory it sounds like it should help but if you just look at the scale of the task of carbon sequestration, I don't think it can help that much.

As opposed to the scale of global agriculture?

Granted, one or two plants dotted around here and there aren't going to make a difference, but a concerted global effort to get farmers across the world to adopt biochar use?

I've heard figures bandied about that if 2.5% of the world agricultural waste were turned into biochar, it could bring down atmospheric carbon to pre-industrial revolution levels by 2050. If that's accurate, it's damn impressive.

[Quinny]

Might be better than burning, but it seems kind of energy intensive to me.

[Ludi]

That would be a bit tricky, since I haven't done any, though if anyone here has, I'd be interested to hear about the results.

Well there ya go. If it isn't being implemented, it sure as hell can't reverse global warming.

[Tanada]

That would be a bit tricky, since I haven't done any, though if anyone here has, I'd be interested to hear about the results.

Well there ya go. If it isn't being implemented, it sure as hell can't reverse global warming.

Ludi, just because nobody here has tried it extensively yet does not mean nobody anywhere has been Here is a link to a guy who uses it a lot mixed with his compost--THREAD

I would think with your interest in Permaculture you would be the best of us to try it on one of your divisions and report back how well it works. Pretty please?

[Ludi]

Ludi, just because nobody here has tried it extensively yet does not mean nobody anywhere has been

I know, it's just, so many folks come on here with "this will save us!" technologies and then it turns out even these people who are interested in them aren't implementing them.

I would think with your interest in Permaculture you would be the best of us to try it on one of your divisions and report back how well it works. Pretty please?

I'll put it on my very long "to do" list.

[spiritof1976]

Ludi, just because nobody here has tried it extensively yet does not mean nobody anywhere has been

I know, it's just, so many folks come on here with "this will save us!" technologies and then it turns out even these people who are interested in them aren't implementing them.

Well, in my case I'd find it rather difficult to implement, what with living in an upstairs apartment. I think the landlord might object to my attempting to make charcoal in the bathroom.

And I'm not saying, "this will save us". What I'm saying is, "other people have claimed this will save us. Does anyone have any experiences/data?"

[Ludi]

Well, in my case I'd find it rather difficult to implement, what with living in an upstairs apartment. I think the landlord might object to my attempting to make charcoal in the bathroom.

You could see about implementing it at a community garden.

[rattleshirt]

My folks, another local small farmer and I are starting to use it on our farms...I'll report when I have some sort of result.

[spiritof1976]

My folks, another local small farmer and I are starting to use it on our farms...I'll report when I have some sort of result.

Interesting. Just out of curiosity, did you all decide to do it separately, or are you coming together as a collective to do it?

[rattleshirt]

I was already planning to try to create terra preta when Mom told me this other fellow needed two more farms to enroll in order to apply for grant money, so now it is kind of seperately together...I still don't kow if the grant money will come through or not but that won't slow me substantially.

[Tanada]

A new report was issued three weeks ago by the Congressional Research Service about Biochar and US Congressional actions on the topic.

Biochar retains nutrients for plant uptake and soil fertility. The infiltration of harmful quantities of
nutrients and pesticides into ground water and soil erosion runoff into surface waters can be limited with the use of biochar. If used for soil fertility, biochar may have a positive impact on
those in developing countries. Impoverished tropical and subtropical locales with abundant plant
material feedstock, inexpensive cooking fuel needs, and agricultural soil replenishment needs
could see an increase in crop yields.

LINK

[WildRose]

Well, from the article you provided, spiritof1976:

"Biochar is different from the dry charcoal that you'd burn in a grill: It is produced by heating plant waste to 400 to 500 degrees C in the absence of oxygen—a process known as low-temperature pyrolysis—which makes a substance that has a greater number of smaller pores than charcoal. (The better to trap carbon dioxide with.) The process used to make biochar is a closed, sustainable one: Biomass is fed into the oxygen-free burners and turned into the char. The gases that are released during the reaction is then captured and converted into electricity (from combustible gases) or biofuel, while the remaining char is safe to throw directly into the soil. Biochar does the rest of the work underground. The substance improves the ground's composition and fertility by locking in water and nutrients, thereby reducing the need for fertilizers while boosting crop yields. It also stores the carbon from the plant materials that made it— around 50 percent of the carbon produced from converting biomass into biochar can be trapped—and traps even more carbon from decomposing plants in the soil."

It sounds like each step in the process of making biochar (which I only learned about just now, thanks!) is efficient. No oxygen used in burning means less C02 produced, correct? The gases released during the process are used, and the rest of the char then goes into the soil, where it helps hold water and nutrients. Then it works toward carbon sequestration, as it has a "greater number of smaller pores" than charcoal.

Sounds pretty good to me, but I'm no scientist . I suppose the process where the gases are converted to electricity could be a little expensive, but Tanada or someone with expertise in this area could give an opinion about this.