10 August 2012

Must Watch - Solve for X: Mike Cheiky on negative carbon liquid fuels

Posted in News, Biochar, Energy, Geoengineering, Project, Technology, Video

Talk by Mike Cheiky, President and Founder of CoolPlanet Energy Systems, which is developing carbon negative fuels with Biochar.

Continue Reading | Leave Comment

19 April 2012

Waste not, want not

Written by Chris Machens, Posted in Biochar, News, Market, Project, Technology

An Oxnard organic recycling company redoes soil enrichment, reduces greenhouse gases

Agromin of Oxnard has created biochar, which is made from organic biomass, or plant waste, and has several environmental benefits, including carbon sequestration.

From VC Reporter by Shelby Maloney:
In the race against the clock to find new ways to fight climate change, Agromin, an Oxnard-based organic recycling company, plans to aid in the effort to modernize an ancient soil enhancement technology by developing its own version of a charcoal-like soil amendment known as biochar. Biochar is produced from organic biomass, or plant waste, and is known to have several environmental benefits, including carbon sequestration, the act of taking carbon out of the atmosphere.

Continue Reading | View Comments (7)

17 April 2012

How One Startup Sold $6,000 Worth of Charcoal on Kickstarter

Written by Chris Machens, Posted in Biochar, News, Market, Project, Technology, Video

Produce 200% more food every crop season if they mix their soil with specially-designed charcoal

Mashable:
Big Idea: Utilize organic waste to create carbon-negative charcoal, a substance that pulls CO2 from the air and helps crops grow taller and stronger.

Why It’s Working: Re:char’s mission is about providing farmers — both at home and in developing countries such as Kenya — with conservation-oriented soil-boosting complexes that can double food output compared to traditional farming methods.

Continue Reading | View Comments (11)

07 April 2012

Grow More Food & Fight Climate Change: Black Revolution

Posted in Biochar, News, Climate , Project, Technology, Video

"Biochar is an excellent way of getting a lot of carbon out of the atmosphere."-- Sir Richard Branson

ReChar: Climate Action - Black Revolution

ReChar started a Kickstarter project funding:
Black Revolution is a soilless growth media for plants containing biochar, coconut husk and compost. Biochar is a charcoal soil amendment made from waste that improves nutrient retention, offsets CO2 and has the potential to help feed our growing planet. Black Revolution is the world's first carbon-negative replacement for soil made entirely from waste. It's lighter than traditional soil, so it works great in rooftop or urban environments. The potting soil and chemical fertilizer industries are traditionally some of the most environmentally destructive in the world.

Chemical fertilizers require massive amounts of fossil fuels and pollute our rivers and streams. Potting soils contain peat moss and vermiculite: non-renewable resources mined from endangered areas around the world.

Continue Reading | View Comments (9)

29 March 2012

New Soil Reef and Organic Mechanics Blend Creates the Perfect Soil Amendment

Posted in News, Biochar, Biomass, Market, Project, Soil, Technology

One of the most important things a gardener can do to boost crop productivity and reduce the amount of water and fertilizers needed is create rich, porous soil

From PR Web: Worm condos. Terra Preta. Black Gold. Whatever it’s called, healthy soil is the most important tool in successful gardening. With the new Soil Reef™ blend being launched this spring, gardeners can create a healthy, organic and permanent home for beneficial organisms living in the soil.

The new blend combines OMRI-listed compost and worm castings from Organic Mechanics® with biochar, adding a unique porous carbon to the soil to create a habitat for life to thrive. How does it work? Soil Reef creates a network of nearly permanent, natural carbon structures throughout your soil, which hold onto water and nutrients, and create homes for microorganisms.

Continue Reading | View Comments (10)

29 March 2012

Is a carbon-negative economy a practical possibility or a pipe dream?

Posted in News, Biomass, Climate , Energy, Market, Policy, Project, Science, Soil, Technology

Let’s not simply reduce the CO2 emissions going up into the atmosphere. Let’s draw them down

Marc Gunther from GreenBiz.com writes:
So says Robert Brown, a professor of engineering at Iowa State University and a leader of the university’s Initiative for a Carbon Negative Economy and its Bioeconomy Institute. Those are interdisciplinary campus efforts to develop ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by growing plants or algae, making them into fuels and burying their carbon residues in soil -- and make money doing it.

The notion that we can generate wealth and remove CO2 from the air is obviously appealing. As atmospheric concentrations of CO2 rise and climate risks grow, so does the need for carbon-negative technologies that pull CO2 from the air, as plants do, and then store it underground or deep in the ocean.

Continue Reading | View Comments (14)

19 March 2012

Current state of biochar progress

Written by Imogen Reed, Posted in News, Biochar, Policy, Project, Science, Soil, Technology

The Latest Biochar Projects in the Developed World

The use of Biochar to act as a carbon sink is causing quite a stir among environmentalists and scientists alike. This ancient technology of burning organic matter then burying it in the ground to fertilize crops may have been around for over 3000 years in the Amazon Basin, but the research that shows that this method of fertilization will also absorb some of the carbon in the atmosphere means that this could be a really viable solution to the long term problem of carbon over production.

Continue Reading | View Comments (12)

25 January 2012

How Biochar Will Help Kenya Go Green And Save Money

Posted in News, Project

Grant from the Gates Foundation to test the conversion of human waste into biochar

David D. Burstein writes at Fast Company (Jan 4, 2012): Re:char is a pioneering company that sells kilns to farmers in Kenya that allow them to convert their farm waste into what's known as biochar, which can then be used for cooking. As an enterprise, Re:char seeks to deliver a "triple bottom line," expanding the uses of sustainable alternatives for energy, providing a cost-effective solution for farmers in an effort to combat poverty, and stemming deforestation in Africa by encouraging use of biochar as cooking fuel instead of cutting down trees for firewood.

Jason Aramburu, the CEO of re:char who works in Bungoma, in the Western Province of Kenya, spoke to us about the emerging area of biochar and a grant that re:char just received from the Gates Foundation to develop a system to transform human waste into biochar.

Continue Reading | View Comments (2)