Terra Preta in the news

[Michaelangelica]

Another (very) interesting article from Erich.

Quite a long read but the last 50% is very TP

Our Good Earth

The future rests on the soil beneath our feet.

By Charles C. Mann

Photograph by Jim Richardson

Our Good Earth - National Geographic Magazine

 

There is supposed to be a soil quiz there, but I can't find it

[erich]

Our Good Earth - National Geographic Magazine

 

I love the "MEGO" factor, Lord how I Know that reaction.

 

I like his characterization concerning the TP pot shards;

 

so filled with pottery "It was as if the river's first inhabitants had

thrown a huge, rowdy frat party, smashing every plate in sight, then

buried the evidence."

 

A couple of researchers I was not aware of were quoted, and I'll be sending

them posts about our group.

 

I sent an email to Michael Pollan ( NYT food columnist) , Pleading for

him to get on this Biochar Bus along with Mann's and Hansen's articles.

 

Plus we heard this about Hansen in a reply from Ron Larson on the yahoo group the other day;

 

"3. Ruy: "I am not aware of any group in opposition of biochar."

[RWL: Me either - but hope everyone reading this will let us know when they see something negative/inaccurate. I suggest a negative reaction will become a big topic as soon as Jim Hansen's next article in Science comes out (as we think "biochar" will appear there quite soon)."

 

Cheers

Erich

[erich]

Business Could Make Billions From Emissions Trades

Monday, 18 August 2008, 4:48 pm

Press Release: New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Dev

 

Business Could Make Billions From New Emissions Trading-Related Investments

 

A new report released this morning says New Zealand businesses have an opportunity to make billions from new technology investments stimulated by the proposed emissions trading scheme.

 

The opportunities range from starting major new industries, exporting biomass (like woodchips) to fuel major new power plants in Europe, to storing carbon in soil

 

 

Scoop: Business Could Make Billions From Emissions Trades

[erich]

Biochar at MTU

 

 

Michigan Tech Media Relations Story#709 - Biochar: Grow Bigger, Better Veggies With Wood Scraps

 

Michigan Tech has experienced an enhanced growth factor of 880% in their

tests!!

[Michaelangelica]

Also

YouTube - Biochar - agrichar - Terra Preta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzmpWR6JUZQ

 

what is this like?

 

Also some other videos

My system is too slow to view

 

Biochar2

07:11 From: theoriginalSkooby

Views: 567

Greenjack's Garden Biochar Trailer

Added

Greenjack's Garden Biochar Trailer

03:40 From: GREENJACKS

Views: 2,532

Official Biochar Tutorial Video

Added

Official Biochar Tutorial Video

07:24 From: yujm7

Views: 129

Simple biochar making gasifier

Added

Simple biochar making gasifier

06:14 From: theoriginalSkooby

Views: 1,214

Terra Preta Potato

Added

Terra Preta Potato

[Eclipse Now]

I loved it when it first came out on Catalyst. See the transcript here. It was great... some good music near the end too... who's the group they play at 8:17?

 

Catalyst: Agrichar – A solution to global warming? - ABC TV Science

 

Also, National Geographic has a bit on it.

 

National Geographic magazine:

 

Rough calculations show that "the amount of carbon we can put into the soil is staggering," Woods says. Last year Cornell University soil scientist Johannes Lehmann estimated in Nature that simply converting residues from commercial forestry, fallow farm fields, and annual crops to charcoal could compensate for about a third of U.S. fossil-fuel emissions. Indeed, Lehmann and two colleagues have argued that humankind's use of fossil fuels worldwide could be wholly offset by storing carbon in terra preta nova.

[freeztar]

Also

 

what is this like?

 

I liked it. It didn't really get interesting until about half way through though.

 

Also some other videos

My system is too slow to view

 

07:11 From: theoriginalSkooby

 

This is a good video that demonstrates the charcoal retort with experimentation. I still think Turtle has a better design. :)

 

Greenjack's Garden Biochar Trailer

Added

Greenjack's Garden Biochar Trailer

03:40 From: GREENJACKS

 

I'm not fond of this one at all. It basically is a video showing that anyone can make char and help prevent global warming. Good message, right? Nope. Unfortunately, they start out showing a fire starting in some tall grasses. Then it shows a drum full of what you'd expect to see at the end of a large bonfire party. Basically, it's ash with some small pieces of char intermixed. :)

 

(the music sucks too)

 

07:24 From: yujm7

This one is great! It's basically an instructional video that describes the process of making char at home using a pit fire and a big metal drum (sealed). The person doing it obviously has a good basic understanding of the science surrounding pyrolysis, physics, and engineering.

 

06:14 From: theoriginalSkooby

Another homemade retort video. Good.

Terra Preta Potato

 

Not recommended. It's a 12 second video scanning several raised beds. (with some hand drumming in the background) :hyper:

[modest]

Also

 

what is this like?

 

Also some other videos

My system is too slow to view

 

I converted it to mp3 (audio only) which your computer, I'm sure, would play fine. PM your email address to me if you want me to send it to you.

 

~modest

[Michaelangelica]

I converted it to mp3 (audio only) which your computer, I'm sure, would play fine. PM your email address to me if you want me to send it to you.

 

~modest

Thanks modest Once downloaded I can view video but it takes 'for ever'

But please send anything you think is good.

I think there were a lot more UTube videos than the ones I mentioned

 

Broad band soon!! :hyper:

 

Thanks for the reviews freeztar

We probably should do this on all Utube stuff

 

Please PM me for my email address or check biochar climate change group.

[modest]

Thanks modest Once downloaded I can view video but it takes 'for ever'

Oh, ok, I thought you were saying the computer was "too slow" to watch them. So, that's good - and good news on the broadband. You'll be :hyper: all night.

 

~modest

[erich]

Sounds like Danny Day has two units going up soon.

He must be so busy that he didn't have time to tell us about it :hihi: :doh:

 

Cheers ,

Erich

 

Biochar and Bioenergy Production Project,

Phase I: Test & Development (TAD) Facility Installation

 

& Agronomic Impact Assessment

 

A Finished Proposal for Biochar Test Facility - Vox

[maikeru]

'Pristine' Amazonian Region Hosted Large, Urban Civilization

 

Further news on ancient cities in Amazonia who left us wonderful terra preta.

[Eclipse Now]

Can I just ask how they gear up the cooker to produce syngas or synfuel? Does cooking up biochar tailored for biochar and energy compromise something at some point? (As opposed to just cooking it up for biochar itself.)

 

And with these more high tech biochar cookers cooking it all in a low-oxygen environment, does that just involve restricting airflow or involve other gases such as Nitrogen being injected? How expensive is Nitroogen anyway? And why does my mate keep insisting that they'd use Nitrogen?

 

(I'm from a humanities background and need the tech broken down into English please. )

[Michaelangelica]

I no engineer but have a look at the BEST Energies website and see if that helps

Also the thread hear on Pyrolysis

here are acouple of search results from agoogle search There are many others.

Australian pyrolysis technology leads the world in demonstrating ...

 

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML

atmosphere) renewable energy production. the. collaborative research, development and. commercialisation program between bEst Energies and ...

http://www.greenhouse2007.com/downloads/papers/071004_DownieAbstract.pdf

Adriana Downie talks about Best Energies pyrolysis gasifier and ...

 

3 Jun 2008 ... This morning on Beyond Zero we are interviewing Adriana Downey, Technical Manger at Best Energies. Her company is involved in pyrolysis, ...

Adriana Downie talks about Best Energies pyrolysis gasifier and making bio char (Terra Preta) | Zero Emissions Climate Change Global Warming Solution - 29k

[Michaelangelica]

Unprovoked Propaganda Campaign Against Biochar Unhelpful and Dishonest

Unprovoked Propaganda Campaign Against Biochar Unhelpful and Dishonest Global Climate Solutions

[erich]

TP in the News;

 

Egen Industries, who work with Danny Day and EPRIDA, .eGenesis Industries : HOME

told me that Time Magazine will be running a Biochar article next month.

 

 

NSW DPI News;

 

"Recent studies have found a 150 per cent increase in corn yield when biochar is applied at the rate of 20 tonnes to the hectare."

 

Biochar revolution to benefit climate and agriculture | NSW Department of Primary Industries

 

 

But none of us will have time to read the news because of the massive homework assignment that Ron's report just left us with. ( Ron Larson's IBI report on conference thread)

 

Cheerfully hitting the books

Erich

[Eclipse Now]

Cool! James Hansen is now supporting and specifically mentioning Biochar.

See my blog post here, where I've linked to an 18 page PDF people can download to get the context.

 

Eclipse Now: Climatologist James Hansen backs Biochar!

 

My only concern is that I don't have the time to read all the reports from the IBI... could anyone summarise the following questions for me? ;)

 

The questions I wish would be answered by the IBI at the conference.

 

1. What volumes of CO2 can Biochar really remove from the atmosphere?

2. With what crops?

3. How quickly can the Biochar cookers be deployed and at what initial capital cost?

4. At what price will they run? Where does the carbon trading price need to be to make these viable in the long term?

5. How much gas or fuel could be generated for the rural communities, and what will agriculture use for fuel if they do not generate enough energy?

6. Can solar thermal power be used to generate the heat for the Biochar cooker so that ALL the syngas can be saved for farm use, instead of half being used in the next burn?

7. (Does anyone know if syngas itself can be used to drive a tractor, harvester, and other farm equipment, or do we have to spend more money and energy converting the syngas into synfuel?)