Lobby For Terra Preta

erich · November 7, 2007

Any help in posting to all these entities associated with Walmart's green efforts would be most appreciated.

Post me and we will divvy up this pie. ( Use my standard TP post & links any way you want)

Thanks,

Erich

Lessons Learned on Display at Wal-Mart's Sustainability Summit

Here are the the entities;

Live Better Sustainability Summit

Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master Wal-Mart's Carbon Cycle

I thought the current news and links on Terra Preta (TP)soils and closed-loop pyrolysis of Biomass would interest you. Carbon to the soil for a really long time;

This technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.Terra Preta Soils a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility Too.

SCIAM Article May 15 07;

Special Report: Inspired by Ancient Amazonians, a Plan to Convert Trash into Environmental Treasure: Scientific American

After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming (AGW) I believe this technology can manage Carbon for the greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales. It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies.

Could you please consider looking for a champion for this orphaned Terra Preta Carbon Soil Technology.

The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held by the IPCC that the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal. Below are the first concrete steps in that direction;

S.1884 – The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007

A Summary of Biochar Provisions in S.1884:

Carbon-Negative Biomass Energy and Soil Quality Initiative

for the 2007 Farm Bill

The International Biochar Initiative (IBI)

(...PLEASE!!..........Contact your Senators & Repps in Support of S.1884........NOW!!...)

Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.

Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Biomass by 2030by Ralph P. Overend, Ph.D. and Anelia Milbrandt

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

http://www.ases.org/climatechange/toc/07_biomass.pdf

The organization 25x25 (see 25x'25 - Home) released it's (first-ever, 55-page )"Action Plan" ; see; http://www.25x25.org/storage/25x25/documents/IP%20Documents/ActionPlanFinalWEB_04-19-07.pdf

On page 29 , as one of four foci for recommended RD&D, the plan lists: "The development of biochar, animal agriculture residues and other non-fossil fuel based fertilizers, toward the end of integrating energy production with enhanced soil quality and carbon sequestration."

and on p 32, recommended as part of an expanded database aspect of infrastructure: "Information on the application of carbon as fertilizer and existing carbon credit trading systems."

I feel 25x25 is now the premier US advocacy organization for all forms of renewable energy, but way out in front on biomass topics.

There are 24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his agriculture and waste stream, all that farm & cellulose waste which is now dumped to rot or digested or combusted and ultimately returned to the atmosphere as GHG should be returned to the Soil.

Even with all the big corporations coming to the GHG negotiation table, like Exxon, Alcoa, .etc, we still need to keep watch as they try to influence how carbon management is legislated in the USA. Carbon must have a fair price, that fair price and the changes in the view of how the soil carbon cycle now can be used as a massive sink verses it now being viewed as a wash, will be of particular value to farmers and a global cool breath of fresh air for us all.

If you have any other questions please feel free to call me or visit the TP web site I've been drafted to co-administer. Terra Preta | Intentional use of charcoal in soil

It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail list , Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox), Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus), chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day of EPRIDA , Dr. Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks and probably many others who's back round I don't know have joined.

Also Here is the Latest BIG Terra Preta Soil news;

The Honolulu Advertiser: “The nation's leading manufacturer of charcoal has licensed a University of Hawai'i process for turning green waste into barbecue briquets.”

See: Hawaii man convicted of murdering deputy - The Honolulu Advertiser

ConocoPhillips Establishes $22.5 Million Pyrolysis Program at Iowa State 04/10/07

Glomalin, the recently discovered soil protien, may be the secret to to TP soils productivity;

Glomalin: The Real Soil Builder / February 5, 2003 / News from the USDA Agricultural Research Service

Here is my current Terra Preta posting which condenses the most important stories and links;

Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master the Carbon Cycle

Man has been controlling the carbon cycle , and there for the weather, since the invention of agriculture, all be it was as unintentional, as our current airliner contrails are in affecting global dimming. This unintentional warm stability in climate has over 10,000 years, allowed us to develop to the point that now we know what we did,............ and that now......... we are over doing it.

The prehistoric and historic records gives a logical thrust for soil carbon sequestration.

I wonder what the soil biome carbon concentration was REALLY like before the cutting and burning of the world's forest, my guess is that now we see a severely diminished community, and that only very recent Ag practices like no-till and reforestation have started to help rebuild it. It makes implementing Terra Preta soil technology like an act of penitence, a returning of the misplaced carbon to where it belongs.

On the Scale of CO2 remediation:

It is my understanding that atmospheric CO2 stands at 379 PPM, to stabilize the climate we need to reduce it to 350 PPM by the removal of 230 Billion tons of carbon.

The best estimates I've found are that the total loss of forest and soil carbon (combined

pre-industrial and industrial) has been about 200-240 billion tons. Of

that, the soils are estimated to account for about 1/3, and the vegetation

the other 2/3.

Since man controls 24 billion tons in his agriculture then it seems we have plenty to work with in sequestering our fossil fuel CO2 emissions as stable charcoal in the soil.

As Dr. Lehmann at Cornell points out, "Closed-Loop Pyrolysis systems such as Dr. Danny Day's are the only way to make a fuel that is actually carbon negative". and 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! "

Terra Preta Soils Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X FertilityToo

This some what orphaned new soil technology speaks to so many different interests and disciplines that it has not been embraced fully by any. I'm sure you will see both the potential of this system and the convergence needed for it's implementation.

The integrated energy strategy offered by Charcoal based Terra Preta Soil technology may

provide the only path to sustain our agricultural and fossil fueled power

structure without climate degradation, other than nuclear power.

The economics look good, and truly great if we had CO2 cap & trade or a Carbon tax in place.

.Nature article, Aug 06: Putting the carbon back Black is the new green:

http://bestenergies.com/downloads/naturemag_200604.pdf

Here's the Cornell page for an over view:

Biochar home

University of Beyreuth TP Program, Germany University of Beyreuth | Terra Preta

This Earth Science Forum thread on these soils contains further links, and has been viewed by 19,000 self-selected folks. ( I post everything I find on Amazon Dark Soils, ADS here):

http://hypography.com/forums/earth-science/3451-terra-preta.html

There is an ecology going on in these soils that is not completely understood, and if replicated and applied at scale would have multiple benefits for farmers and environmentalist.

Terra Preta creates a terrestrial carbon reef at a microscopic level. These nanoscale structures provide safe haven to the microbes and fungus that facilitate fertile soil creation, while sequestering carbon for many hundred if not thousands of years. The combination of these two forms of sequestration would also increase the growth rate and natural sequestration effort of growing plants.

The reason TP has elicited such interest on the Agricultural/horticultural side of it's benefits is this one static:

One gram of charcoal cooked to 650 C Has a surface area of 400 m2 (for soil microbes & fungus to live on), now for conversion fun:

One ton of charcoal has a surface area of 400,000 Acres!! which is equal to 625 square miles!! Rockingham Co. VA. , where I live, is only 851 Sq. miles

Now at a middle of the road application rate of 2 lbs/sq ft (which equals 1000 sqft/ton) or 43 tons/acre yields 26,000 Sq miles of surface area per Acre. VA is 39,594 Sq miles.

What this suggest to me is a potential of sequestering virgin forest amounts of carbon just in the soil alone, without counting the forest on top.

To take just one fairly representative example, in the classic Rothampstead experiments in England where arable land was allowed to revert to deciduous temperate woodland, soil organic carbon increased 300-400% from around 20 t/ha to 60-80 t/ha (or about 20-40 tons per acre) in less than a century (Jenkinson & Rayner 1977). The rapidity with which organic carbon can build up in soils is also indicated by examples of buried steppe soils formed during short-lived interstadial phases in Russia and Ukraine. Even though such warm, relatively moist phases usually lasted only a few hundred years, and started out from the skeletal loess desert/semi-desert soils of glacial conditions (with which they are inter-leaved), these buried steppe soils have all the rich organic content of a present-day chernozem soil that has had many thousands of years to build up its carbon (E. Zelikson, Russian Academy of Sciences, pers. comm., May 1994). Quaternary carbon storage in global ecosystems

All the Bio-Char Companies and equipment manufactures I've found:

Carbon Diversion

Eprida: Sustainable Solutions for Global Concerns

BEST Pyrolysis, Inc. | Slow Pyrolysis - Biomass - Clean Energy - Renewable Ene

BEST Pyrolysis, Inc. | Slow Pyrolysis - Biomass - Clean Energy - Renewable Energy - Char - green coal - pelletized fuel - syngas for electrical generation - carbon credits - increases rural jobs and construction development

Dynamotive Energy Systems | The Evolution of Energy

Ensyn - Environmentally Friendly Energy and Chemicals

Agri-Therm, developing bio oils from agricultural waste

Advanced BioRefinery Inc.

Technology Review: Turning Slash into Cash

3R Environmental Technologies Ltd. (Edward Someus)

WEB: TERRA HUMANA

The company has Swedish origin and developing/designing medium and large scale carbonization units. The company is the licensor and technology provider to NviroClean Tech Ltd British American organization WEB: Nviro Cleantech – Investing in Clean Technologies and VERTUS Ltd.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The International Agrichar Initiative (IAI) conference held at Terrigal, NSW, Australia in 2007. ( The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) ) ( The papers from this conference are now being posted at their home page)

.

If pre-Columbian Kayopo Indians could produce these soils up to 6 feet deep over 15% of the Amazon basin using "Slash & CHAR" verses "Slash & Burn", it seems that our energy and agricultural industries could also product them at scale.

Harnessing the work of this vast number of microbes and fungi changes the whole equation of energy return over energy input (EROEI) for food and Bio fuels. I see this as the only sustainable agricultural strategy if we no longer have cheap fossil fuels for fertilizer.

We need this super community of wee beasties to work in concert with us by populating them into their proper Soil horizon Carbon Condos.

Erich J. Knight

Shenandoah Gardens

1047 Dave Berry Rd.

McGaheysville, VA. 22840

(540) 289-9750

[email protected]

erich · November 8, 2007

This kind reply I just received from Michael Pollan of "The Botany of Desire" fame. If the NYT journalist who contacted me last week doesn't come through maybe Mr. Pollan will cover TP in the food columns he has been writing for the NYT. Let's hope he delves deeply.

"Erich: Got your message and look forward to delving into the subject,

which I was introduced to by Charles Mann. Thanks! Michael

On Nov 5, 2007, at 9:18 AM, Erich J. Knight wrote:"

Getting an "!" from Michael Pollan.......... Just made my week!

Erich

InfiniteNow · November 8, 2007

Erich,

You are a bastion of hope. For those of us who ignore longer posts, can you summarize:

What you are saying:

Why you are saying it:

Who you are saying it to:

and

What are the next steps:

Too many meetings has made me callous. Time to to pulverize some char and say thank you to old friends. :cheer:

erich · November 8, 2007

Here's a reply from Lou onthe TP list that sums up my feelings;

"And I got a reply from Andrew Revkin (science writer for the NY Times)

saying that he would "have a look."

I would like to suggest (urge) that everyone can do this. Just pick any writers,

or opinion leaders who you respect and draw them into the conversation. I like

to keep my messages short, choosing only a few simple but powerful references

that might hook the interest of the journalist, the teacher, the minister, etc.

Once attention iss hooked, Terra Preta does the rest.

Lou"

What I'm saying;

Various combinations of my above TP Posting, Please modify/edit it any way you like , I often modify the opening dependent on the politics of the intended audience, like for the evangelical "Creation Care" folks

Why I'm saying it;

To engauge all the folks I can ,to show them why they have an iron in this fire.

Who you are saying it to:

Any and all the academic disipines, companies, NGOs, government agencies, enviormental groups, Garden groups, Waste managers, folks on the above Wal-Mart list, etc , etc.....................

and

What are the next steps:

Letting our creative minds find as many venues as possible to get this word out, we need both a "top-down" and "bottoms-up" approach.

I may be a bastion, but I feel like a voice in the wilderness,

Thanks,

Erich

scalbers · November 18, 2007

Would be nice to see Terra Preta covered in various science magazines. It was in Scientific American - though just on the web site.

I also wonder about venture capitalists investing in alternative energy. This includes Al Gore - who in addition to his publicity has been working with some venture capitalists.

erich · November 18, 2007

Yes.......I have posted the story idea to many science mags and science blogs

Also many venture capitalists and dotcom millionairs; Branson, Bezos, Gore, Bigalow

Gates, etc.

IPCC Summary for Policy Makers, almost talks about Charcoal;

This IPCC menu of remediations fits TP to a T, However they don't say the C word (charcoal), our friends at Biopact at least know that Biotic-Carbon-Capture & Storage, (CCS) , and 'negative emissions energy' should read Charcoal to the Soils.

Bioenergy pact between Europe and Africa

Michaelangelica · December 11, 2007

Brother eric's latest ( up-dated) sermon:)

Let yea of little faith BEWARE!

Lest the fires of pyrolysis consume you:)

Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master the Carbon Cycle

This technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.
Terra Preta Soils a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility Too.
Thanks,
Erich

UN Climate Change Conference: Biochar present at the Bali Conference

UN Climate Change Conference: Biochar present at the Bali Conference | Terra Preta

SCIAM Article May 15 07;

Special Report: Inspired by Ancient Amazonians, a Plan to Convert Trash into Environmental Treasure: Scientific American

After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming (AGW).
I believe this technology can manage Carbon for the greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales.
It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies.

Could you please consider looking for a champion for this orphaned Terra Preta Carbon Soil Technology.

The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held by the IPCC that the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal. Below are the first concrete steps in that direction;

S.1884 – The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007

A Summary of Biochar Provisions in S.1884:

Carbon-Negative Biomass Energy and Soil Quality Initiative

for the 2007 Farm Bill

The International Biochar Initiative (IBI)

(...PLEASE!!..........Contact your Senators & Repps in Support of S.1884........NOW!!...)

Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.

Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Biomass by 2030by Ralph P. Overend, Ph.D. and Anelia Milbrandt
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

http://www.ases.org/climatechange/toc/07_biomass.pdf

The organization 25x25 (see 25x'25 - Home) released it's (first-ever, 55-page )"Action Plan" ; see; http://www.25x25.org/storage/25x25/documents/IP%20Documents/ActionPlanFinalWEB_04-19-07.pdf
On page 29 , as one of four foci for recommended RD&D, the plan lists: "The development of biochar, animal agriculture residues and other non-fossil fuel based fertilizers, toward the end of integrating energy production with enhanced soil quality and carbon sequestration."
and on p 32, recommended as part of an expanded database aspect of infrastructure: "Information on the application of carbon as fertilizer and existing carbon credit trading systems."

I feel 25x25 is now the premier US advocacy organization for all forms of renewable energy, but way out in front on biomass topics.

There are 24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his agriculture and waste stream, all that farm & cellulose waste which is now dumped to rot or digested or combusted and ultimately returned to the atmosphere as GHG should be returned to the Soil.

Even with all the big corporations coming to the GHG negotiation table, like Exxon, Alcoa, .etc, we still need to keep watch as they try to influence how carbon management is legislated in the USA.
Carbon must have a fair price, that fair price and the changes in the view of how the soil carbon cycle now can be used as a massive sink verses it now being viewed as a wash, will be of particular value to farmers and a global cool breath of fresh air for us all.

If you have any other questions please feel free to call me or visit the TP web site I've been drafted to co-administer. Terra Preta | Intentional use of charcoal in soil

It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail list ,
Cornell folks,
T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox),
Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus),
chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day of EPRIDA ,
Dr. Antal of U. of H.,
Virginia Tech folks
and probably many others who's back round I don't know have joined.

Also Here is the Latest BIG Terra Preta Soil news;

The Honolulu Advertiser: “The nation's leading manufacturer of charcoal has licensed a University of Hawai'i process for turning green waste into barbecue briquets.”

See: Faith calendar - The Honolulu Advertiser

ConocoPhillips Establishes $22.5 Million Pyrolysis Program at Iowa State 04/10/07

Glomalin, the recently discovered soil protien, may be the secret to to TP soils productivity;

Glomalin: The Real Soil Builder / February 5, 2003 / News from the USDA Agricultural Research Service

Here is my current Terra Preta posting which condenses the most important stories and links;

Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master the Carbon Cycle

Man has been controlling the carbon cycle , and there for the weather, since the invention of agriculture, all be it was as unintentional, as our current airliner contrails are in affecting global dimming. This unintentional warm stability in climate has over 10,000 years, allowed us to develop to the point that now we know what we did,............ and that now......... we are over doing it.

The prehistoric and historic records gives a logical thrust for soil carbon sequestration.
I wonder what the soil biome carbon concentration was REALLY like before the cutting and burning of the world's forest, my guess is that now we see a severely diminished community, and that only very recent Ag practices like no-till and reforestation have started to help rebuild it. It makes implementing Terra Preta soil technology like an act of penitence, a returning of the misplaced carbon to where it belongs.

On the Scale of CO2 remediation:

It is my understanding that atmospheric CO2 stands at 379 PPM, to stabilize the climate we need to reduce it to 350 PPM by the removal of 230 Billion tons of carbon.

The best estimates I've found are that the total loss of forest and soil carbon (combined
pre-industrial and industrial) has been about 200-240 billion tons. Of
that, the soils are estimated to account for about 1/3, and the vegetation
the other 2/3.

Since man controls 24 billion tons in his agriculture then it seems we have plenty to work with in sequestering our fossil fuel CO2 emissions as stable charcoal in the soil.

As Dr. Lehmann at Cornell points out, "Closed-Loop Pyrolysis systems such as Dr. Danny Day's are the only way to make a fuel that is actually carbon negative". and 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! "

Terra Preta Soils Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X FertilityToo

This some what orphaned new soil technology speaks to so many different interests and disciplines that it has not been embraced fully by any. I'm sure you will see both the potential of this system and the convergence needed for it's implementation.

The integrated energy strategy offered by Charcoal based Terra Preta Soil technology may
provide the only path to sustain our agricultural and fossil fueled power
structure without climate degradation, other than nuclear power.

The economics look good, and truly great if we had CO2 cap & trade or a Carbon tax in place.

.Nature article, Aug 06: Putting the carbon back Black is the new green:
http://bestenergies.com/downloads/naturemag_200604.pdf

Here's the Cornell page for an over view:
Biochar home

University of Beyreuth TP Program, Germany University of Beyreuth | Terra Preta

This Earth Science Forum thread on these soils contains further links, and has been viewed by 19,000 self-selected folks. ( I post everything I find on Amazon Dark Soils, ADS here):
http://hypography.com/forums/earth-science/3451-terra-preta.html

There is an ecology going on in these soils that is not completely understood, and if replicated and applied at scale would have multiple benefits for farmers and environmentalist.

Terra Preta creates a terrestrial carbon reef at a microscopic level. These nanoscale structures provide safe haven to the microbes and fungus that facilitate fertile soil creation, while sequestering carbon for many hundred if not thousands of years. The combination of these two forms of sequestration would also increase the growth rate and natural sequestration effort of growing plants.

The reason TP has elicited such interest on the Agricultural/horticultural side of it's benefits is this one static:

One gram of charcoal cooked to 650 C Has a surface area of 400 m2 (for soil microbes & fungus to live on), now for conversion fun:

One ton of charcoal has a surface area of 400,000 Acres!! which is equal to 625 square miles!! Rockingham Co. VA. , where I live, is only 851 Sq. miles

Now at a middle of the road application rate of 2 lbs/sq ft (which equals 1000 sqft/ton) or 43 tons/acre yields 26,000 Sq miles of surface area per Acre. VA is 39,594 Sq miles.

What this suggest to me is a potential of sequestering virgin forest amounts of carbon just in the soil alone, without counting the forest on top.

To take just one fairly representative example, in the classic Rothampstead experiments in England where arable land was allowed to revert to deciduous temperate woodland, soil organic carbon increased 300-400% from around 20 t/ha to 60-80 t/ha (or about 20-40 tons per acre) in less than a century (Jenkinson & Rayner 1977). The rapidity with which organic carbon can build up in soils is also indicated by examples of buried steppe soils formed during short-lived interstadial phases in Russia and Ukraine. Even though such warm, relatively moist phases usually lasted only a few hundred years, and started out from the skeletal loess desert/semi-desert soils of glacial conditions (with which they are inter-leaved), these buried steppe soils have all the rich organic content of a present-day chernozem soil that has had many thousands of years to build up its carbon (E. Zelikson, Russian Academy of Sciences, pers. comm., May 1994). Quaternary carbon storage in global ecosystems

All the Bio-Char Companies and equipment manufactures I've found:

Carbon Diversion
Carbon Diversion

Eprida: Sustainable Solutions for Global Concerns
Eprida: Sustainable Solutions for Global Concerns

BEST Pyrolysis, Inc. | Slow Pyrolysis - Biomass - Clean Energy - Renewable Ene
BEST Pyrolysis, Inc. | Slow Pyrolysis - Biomass - Clean Energy - Renewable Energy - Char - green coal - pelletized fuel - syngas for electrical generation - carbon credits - increases rural jobs and construction development

Dynamotive Energy Systems | The Evolution of Energy
Dynamotive Energy Systems | The Evolution of Energy

Ensyn - Environmentally Friendly Energy and Chemicals
Ensyn - Environmentally Friendly Energy and Chemicals

Agri-Therm, developing bio oils from agricultural waste
Agri-Therm, developing bio oils from agricultural waste

Advanced BioRefinery Inc.
Advanced BioRefinery Inc.

Technology Review: Turning Slash into Cash
Technology Review: Turning Slash into Cash

3R Environmental Technologies Ltd. (Edward Someus)
WEB: TERRA HUMANA

The company has Swedish origin and developing/designing medium and large scale carbonization units. The company is the licensor and technology provider to NviroClean Tech Ltd British American organization WEB: Nviro Cleantech – Investing in Clean Technologies and VERTUS Ltd.
http://www.vertustechnologies.com

The International Agrichar Initiative (IAI) conference held at Terrigal, NSW, Australia in 2007. ( The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) ) ( The papers from this conference are now being posted at their home page)
.

If pre-Columbian Kayopo Indians could produce these soils up to 6 feet deep over 15% of the Amazon basin using "Slash & CHAR" verses "Slash & Burn", it seems that our energy and agricultural industries could also product them at scale.

Harnessing the work of this vast number of microbes and fungi changes the whole equation of energy return over energy input (EROEI) for food and Bio fuels
I see this as the only sustainable agricultural strategy if we no longer have cheap fossil fuels for fertilizer.

We need this super community of wee beasties to work in concert with us by populating them into their proper Soil horizon Carbon Condos.

Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
1047 Dave Berry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA. 22840

From

Cabin Dreams: Winter at last

formatting colour and fiddling blame me

MA

erich · February 12, 2008

I got an email from Thayer Tomlinson today, really great work going on at the Energy and Security Group.

Established in 2002, the Energy and Security Group (ESG) is a small, woman-owned professional services company serving U.S. government and military, industry, finance, and international development agency clients in the U.S. and overseas.

Energy and Security Group

I like all the Biochar Big Hitters on the board of the Renew the Earth project ESG has undertaken;

Renew the Earth (RTE) is organized to encourage the international exchange of ideas, information, and actions in the transition from a fossil-based economy to one increasingly reliant on sustainable energy and water. RTE is located at the ESG home office, which performs the day-to-day management and operational functions of the organization. RTE is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of Debbie Reed, William Holmberg, Steve Siegel, Judy Siegel, Tom Davis, Barbara Bramble, and Stephen Joseph.

Energy and Security Group

Cheers,

Erich

Michaelangelica · February 13, 2008

I think I have given up.

Like backyard composting, TP's time will come in 20 years.

I am half amind to ear bash my two new local members and take them up to BEST's prototype pyrolysis machine. But I think I am too down or run out of energy for now.

erich · February 13, 2008

Do I hear a crisis in Faith??????!!!!!............from Our Arch Angle?????............Say it ain't so Michael........say it ain't so........................:phones: :evil:

freeztar · February 13, 2008

I think I have given up.

Like backyard composting, TP's time will come in 20 years.

I am half amind to ear bash my two new local members and take them up to BEST's prototype pyrolysis machine. But I think I am too down or run out of energy for now.

Fair suck of the sav! :phones:

Don't cark it mate! She'll be apples. :evil:

Philip Small · February 13, 2008

MA: Get some vitamin D in you stat. Go for a run. Then follow with chocolate. Repeat chocolate.

erich · February 13, 2008

Let us all Please incant ritual supplications for Michael's smooth transition back to the fold.

I offer these words From Lou;

VISIONSHARE

"To devise a system that honored our humanness

The old saw that "it matters not so much what you do but how you do it" may hold the deeper truth. The secret of abundance may lie in the giveaway. Google is proving this daily within the info-sphere. Terra Preta may prove it within the eco-sphere. Really, it isn't so much about giving or taking but more about where and how we leave the residues."

erich · February 24, 2008

Here is a strait forward conversion of the impact of building soil organic material (SOM) on ppm of atmospheric GHGs, using just marginal land and standard SOM building processes. Adding Biochar protocols would really jump start this solution.

Restoring soil carbon can reverse global warming, desertification and biodiversity loss Restoring soil carbon can reverse global warming, desertification and biodiversity loss

Tony Lovell of Soil Carbon P/L ( Soil Carbon : Putting Carbon Back Where It Belongs - In The Earth )in Australia estimates that by actively supporting regrowth of vegetation in damaged ecosystems, billions of tons of carbon dioxide can be sequestered from the atmosphere.

"Determining how much carbon dioxide (CO2) can physically be consumed from the atmosphere?

As the planet has 7.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in circulation for each 1 ppm of atmospheric CO2, and there are 5 billion hectares of inappropriately managed or unmanaged, desertifying savannahs on the Earth (which on empirical evidence we contend to be the case), the question that should sensibly be asked is: How much carbon dioxide would be absorbed if policies were put in place (in Australia and elsewhere) that caused the focus of on-ground management to be deliberately directed towards the widespread consumption of cyclical GHGs within the currently under-utilised savannah lands?

Consumption of CO2 per hectare

One hectare is 10,000 sq. metres. If a hectare of soil 33.5 cm deep, with a bulk density of 1.4 tonnes per cubic metre is considered, there is a soil mass per hectare of about 4,700 tonnes.

If appropriate management practices were adopted and these practices achieved and sustained a 1% increase in soil organic matter (SOM)6, then 47 tonnes of SOM per hectare will be added to organic matter stocks held below the soil surface

This 47 tonnes of SOM will contain approximately 27 tonnes of Soil Carbon (ie 47 tonnes at 58% Carbon) per hectare

In the absence of other inputs this Carbon may only be derived from the atmosphere via the natural function known as the photo-synthetic process. To place approximately 27 tonnes of Soil Carbon per hectare into the soil, approximately 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide must be consumed out of the atmosphere by photosynthesis

A 1% change in soil organic matter across 5 billion hectares will sequester 500 billion tonnes of physical CO2

Converting global Soil Carbon capacity to ppm of atmospheric GHGs

Every 1% increase in retained SOM within the topmost 33.5 cm of the soil must capture and hold approximately 100 tonnes per hectare of atmospheric carbon dioxide (the variability in the equation being due only to the soil bulk density). We submit that under determined, appropriate management, that this is readily achievable within a very few years

For each 1% increase in SOM achieved on the 5 billion hectares there will be removed 64 ppm of carbon dioxide from atmospheric circulation (500,000,000,000 tonnes CO2 / 7,800,000,000 tonnes per ppm = 64 ppm).

Soil Organic Matter is the plant material released into the soil during the natural phases of plant growth. It includes root material sloughed off below the soil surface and plant litter carried into the soil by microbes, insects and rainfall

Soil Carbon is the elemental carbon contained within Soil Organic Matter (SOM).

One tonne of CO2 contains 12/44 units of carbon (ie 0.27 tonnes of carbon per tonne of CO2.). Therefore 27 tonnes of carbon sequesters 27/0.27 = 100 tonnes CO2 (rounded). NB Carbon atomic weight 12, oxygen atomic weight 16 ie CO2 = 12+(16+16) = 44

The global opportunity and numbers

It appears that the pre-industrial level of atmospheric carbon dioxide was 280ppm, and that globally we are now at 455ppm, and heading towards 550ppm. To get from 550ppm back to 280ppm, 270ppm must be removed. Globally, a 4.2% increase in SOM would potentially reverse the expected situation. In any case, any form of determined management will substantially reduce the now crippling legacy loadings in the atmosphere. "

Erich J. Knight

1047 Dave Berry Rd.

McGaheysville, VA. 22840

540-289-9750

[email protected]

Michaelangelica · February 24, 2008

Let us all Please incant ritual supplications for Michael's smooth transition back to the fold.

I offer these words From Lou;

VISIONSHARE

"To devise a system that honored our humanness

The old saw that "it matters not so much what you do but how you do it" may hold the deeper truth. The secret of abundance may lie in the giveaway. Google is proving this daily within the info-sphere. Terra Preta may prove it within the eco-sphere. Really, it isn't so much about giving or taking but more about where and how we leave the residues."

Not quite over the wobbles:(, but two emails to local Federal MPs today and one each to Minister for Climate Change and Minister for the Environment( Yes one each, in new Federal Labor Govt.!!!).

Local Members at least, should be aware of what BEST Energies is doing locally

Thanks for your kind thoughts.:confused:

erich · March 18, 2008

From a posting by Richard Haard, Let us hope it ends up on Clinton's & Obama's desks, and if not Macain should steal it. After all TP is most righteously a conservitive policy.

"For those of you interested here is a 440 word presentation I will make to a local grass roots Dem party plank meeting this evening. Thanks to some of our list members for input and helpful narrative.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the desk of Richard Haard, Monday, March 17, 2008

A proposal for a Whatcom County, Washington, Democratic Party, agricultural platform plank committee topic: Carbon Sequestration

Terrestrial carbon sequestration is recognized both by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as well as the European Union as a viable way to reduce atmospheric carbon content. However, this technique was not taken up in the Kyoto Protocols (clean development mechanisms). Since scientists, NGO’s and conservation groups are advocating its inclusion in a post Kyoto agreement and also since the United States is not yet a signatory to this convention here is something we can do immediately to join the rest of the world in this action to cleanse our atmosphere of carbon.

The problem. Climate change can wreak havoc on food production and displace millions of people. If we see an atmospheric temperature change of more than 2 degrees C in the next 50 years we could enter a period of runaway climate warming. We can either clean up our atmosphere or we might perish trying to live in the conditions of runaway climate change.

Burying charcoal in soil is one element of many in what we need to do to reduce the carbon content of our atmosphere. The use of charcoal in agriculture will address multiple purposes: climate mitigation, food production and a viable renewable energy source. Wide scale implementation of carbon sequestration in the soil will significantly reduce atmospheric carbon.

Biochar is charcoal with specific properties and is made by pyrolysing biomass derived from agricultural and forestry waste and crops grown specifically for this purpose. If these source materials were for example composted and added to soil the carbon in them would eventually decay and be released to the atmosphere.

Charcoal on the other hand remains active in the soil for many thousands of years forming a permanent functional substitute for organic matter. The second property of charcoal in soil is its high affinity to nutrients (adsorption). Lastly, in the formation of charcoal the microscopic features of the wood are preserved making habitat for beneficial organisms thereby reducing the need for commercial fertilizer.

Plank this: ‘Cleansing our atmosphere of carbon is the issue for our times’ Make a law that puts ‘earning carbon sequestration credits’ into the US tax code. This will be implemented either as a check box for creation of a carbon removal fund or direct tax credit towards activities that:

1. Disseminates carbon removal technology and information on how to use biochar here and abroad.

2. Provides a direct payment for every verified ton of biochar permanently buried in the United States and territories to make local use feasible .

=

_______________________________________________

Terrapreta mailing list

Here's my only edit:

"Charcoal on the other hand remains active in the soil for many thousands of years forming a permanent functional substitute for organic matter."

Should read;

permanent functional infrastructure for organic matter & minerals

Cheers

Erich

freeztar · March 18, 2008

Looks good erich, good luck!

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