The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported Biochar as a key technology for reaching low carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration targets. The negative emissions that can be produced by Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has been estimated by the Royal Society to be equivalent to a 50 to 150 ppm decrease in global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Annual net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide could be reduced by a maximum of 1.8 Pg CO2-C equivalent (CO2-Ce) per year (12% of current anthropogenic CO2-Ce emissions; 1 Pg=1 Gt), and total net emissions over the course of a century by 130 Pg CO2-Ce, without endangering food security, habitat or soil conservation. Wikipedia

Articles tagged with: Technology

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

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.

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

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

30 March 2012

Australia: Biochar enters the marketplace

Posted in News, Biochar, Market, Technology

After years of research and development, the coproduction of biochar and bioenergy in a modern slow-pyrolysis facility, is coming closer to commercial reality in Australia.

By Dr Adriana Downie for Eco Generation magazine March/April 2012.

Pacific Pyrolysis (PacPyro) has been offered $4.5 million by the Victorian Government to pilot a commercial-scale production facility in Melbourne. The project will demonstrate PacPyro’s proprietary technology’s ability to deliver a solution for urban green and wood waste by converting it into renewable electricity and biochar.

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

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

03 February 2011

Proving the microwave charcoal technology the easy part

Posted in News, Project, Technology

Carbonscape co-founder Nick Gerritsen describes what his team has developed as an “enabling technology”

In one sense, proving Carbonscape’s novel one-step process can cheaply produce highly porous charcoal was the easy part.

27 January 2010

No Need to Wait (or Pay) for Climate Technology

Posted in News, Energy, Technology

The Global Innovation Commons is a massive interactive archive of energy-saving technologies already in the public domain.
Large tech companies like to claim that they need broad patents to encourage their investment in innovative new technologies. And they are poised to make a fortune by selling patent licenses for new “green technologies” designed to abate carbon emissions.

But David E. Martin, an intellectual property activist who works with many developing countries, argues that a great many green technologies are already in the public domain and ready to be developed. They just need to be identified and used.