Green guru James Lovelock claims that the only hope of mitigating catastrophic climate change is through biochar - biomass "cooked" by pyrolysis.

It produces gas for energy generation, and charcoal - a stable form of carbon. The charcoal is then buried in the ground, making the process "carbon negative". Researchers say biochar can also improve farm productivity and cut demand for carbon-intensive fertilisers. There's a flurry of worldwide interest in the technology, but is the hype justified?

Fertile ground

A ripe whiff of sludge drifts across the sewage works in Bingen, Germany, as a conveyor belt feeds a stream of semi-dried effluent into a steel container.

Behind the container, the treated effluent emerges in the form of glittering black granules. In a flash of eco-alchemy, they are turning sewage into charcoal. The charcoal is then buried to lock the carbon into the ground and prevent it entering the atmosphere. Proponents of the technology say it is so effective at storing carbon that it should be included in the next global climate agreement.

Engineer Helmut Gerber from the University of Applied Sciences, Bingen explains how biochar is created.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7924373.stm

Presentation of the potential of biochar to improve the fertility of poor soils, and to sequester carbon.

Imagine if in a poverty-stricken sector of the equatorial band, littered with acidic soils barely fit for farming, there were jet-black patches of dirt, seeded with charcoal and so fertile that they could be planted continuously for over 40 years without applying fertilizer.

Then imagine that those patches were so loaded with carbon that they had six to seven times the amount of carbon per pound of the surrounding soils, that Western scientists could partially replicate the process through which the black earth was made, and that by burying carbon in earth they could augment soil fertility and, perhaps, leach carbon out of the atmosphere and reverse global warming.

Perhaps the jig is already up—too much detail. What we’re talking about is terra preta, or more colloquially, biochar, the Amazonian miracle soil.

The Drylands constitute a significant sink for carbon, and they have potential to further increase carbon sequestration given their current degraded status and expanse. Recognizing this potential, the UNCCD secretariat is proposing that policy actions should take into account carbon contained in soils and the importance of biochar (charcoal) in replenishing soil carbon pools, restoring soil fertility and enhancing the sequesteration of CO2. The idea has been submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 5th Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 5).

Document submitted to Climate Change/UNFCCC AWG-LCA 5
Today the world faces a situation of growing urgency given the combined consequences of and the intricate linkages between climate change and frequent and severe droughts, land degradation and desertification. The effects of these phenomena take place and are most severe in the villages and in the countryside of developing countries, with negative impacts on the ability of the inhabitants to cope with and adapt to climate change.

The UNCCD Secretariat, in tandem with the 10 Year Strategic Plan (10YSP), is taking measures aimed at increasing cooperation/building synergies for the implementation of the Rio Conventions (UNCCD/ UNFCCC/ CBD) that entail developing operational programmes and coordinated assistance for the implementation of the Conventions, particularly at national levels. The operational programmes produced by the secretariat aim at seizing the opportunities created by climate change and the anticipated COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009.

Of particular interest, is the utilization of Biochar as a means for sequestering carbon in the soil. As you may be informed the UNCCD Secretariats has been unraveling the opportunities offered by Biochar in storing Carbon in the soil following which a submission on this initiative was tabled in Poznan, presenting the many advantages available. It was the first submission on this initiative. This is a solid technology for soil amendment and for renewable energy at the level of the household, as well as for providing new avenues for economic opportunities (targeting populations living in areas affected by desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD). Read more http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/AWGLCA5/menu.php

From the IBI movie "The Promise of Biochar"

Von der Präsidentschaft Barack Obamas werden große politische Veränderungen erwartet. Dazu zählt auch ein radikaler Wandel in der Umwelt- und Energiepolitik der neuen US-Regierung. Neben den Plänen des neu ernannten Energieministers Steve Chu gibt es mit dem neuen Innenminister Ken Salazar einen Politiker in Obamas Kabinett, der sich im Laufe seiner politischen Karriere wiederholt für Energie- und Umweltthemen engagiert hat. Zu den umweltpolitischen Zielen des ehemaligen US-Senators gehört auch der verstärkte Einsatz von Biokohle und Pyrolysetechniken.

Ithaka-Journal für Terroirwein, Biodiversität und Klimafarming

On his farm in the hills of west virginia, Josh Frye isn't raising chickens just for meat. He is also raising them for their manure. Through a process that some scientists tout as a solution to climate change, food shortages and the energy crisis, Frye is transforming the waste into a charcoal-like substance called biochar that in the long run could be far better for the world than chicken nuggets. "It might look like this is just a poultry farm," says Frye. "But it's a char farm too."

Burn almost any kind of organic material — corn husks, hazelnut shells, bamboo and, yes, even chicken manure — in an oxygen-depleted process called pyrolysis, and you generate gases and heat that can be used as energy. What remains is a solid — biochar — that sequesters carbon, keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere. In principle, at least, you create energy in a way that is not just carbon neutral, but carbon negative.

Time