Biochar another article to share

Just found this article about biochar in nature communications. If this link has already been introduced to this forum, feel free to delete this thread.

Hope for a good discussion! 


http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v1/n5/full/ncomms1053.html

My comments on the Nature article are updated in a talk given to the EPA chiefs of North America;


Short a nano material PV / thermoelectrical / ultracapasitating Black swan,
What we can do now with "off the shelf" technology, what I proposed at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation,  to the EPA chiefs of North America.
The most cited soil scientist in the world, Dr. Rattan Lal at OSU, was impressed with this talk, commending me on conceptualizing & articulating the concept.

Bellow the opening & closing text. A Report on my talk at CEC, and complete text & links are here:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar-policy/message/3233

The Establishment of Soil Carbon as the Universal Measure of Sustainability

The Paleoclimate Record shows agricultural-geo-engineering is responsible for 2/3rds of our excess greenhouse gases.  The unintended consequence, the flowering of our civilization. Our science has now realized these consequences and has developed a more encompassing wisdom.  Wise land management,  afforestation and  the thermal conversion of biomass can build back our soil carbon.  Pyrolysis, Gasification  and Hydro-Thermal Carbonization are known biofuel technologies,  What is new are the concomitant benefits of biochars for Soil Carbon Sequestration; building soil biodiversity & nitrogen efficiency, for in situ remediation of toxic agents, and, as a feed supplement cutting the carbon foot print of livestock.  Modern systems are closed-loop with no significant emissions. The general life cycle analysis is: every 1 ton of biomass yields 1/3 ton Biochar equal to 1 ton CO2e, plus biofuels equal to 1MWh exported electricity, so each energy cycle is 1/3 carbon negative.

Beyond Rectifying the Carbon Cycle;
Biochar systems Integrate nutrient management, serving the same healing function for the Nitrogen and Phosphorous Cycles.
The Agricultural Soil Carbon Sequestration Standards are the royal road for the GHG Mitigation;

The Bio-Refining Technologies to Harvest Carbon.
The photosynthetic "capture" collectors are up and running all around us, the "storage" sink is in operation just under our feet, conversion reactors are the only infrastructure we need to build out. Carbon, as the center of life, has high value to recapitalize our soils. Yielding nutrient dense foods and Biofuels,  Paying Premiums of pollution abatement and toxic remediation and the growing Dividend created by the increasing biomass of a thriving soil community.

Since we have filled the air,
filling the seas to full,
soil is the only beneficial place left.
Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.

i just made some biochar while cooking some food. now the biochar will go to the soil to grow more food to cook. ive been doing it for a few years and its well worth it if you char waste. a lot of people buy good useable stuff to char though, that im against. all mine was small twigs, a good sustainable source as i the trees grow far more twigs than i char each year.

wow do I ever agree with you Hubert.  The strength of biochar is that it can be made from GARBAGE if the system is set up that way. After all, that is how it was made in the first place!
  I am a fan of biochar but despair when people talk of growing stuff just for biochar when people are starving around the world and cities everywhere are finding it more and more difficult to find places to put their garbage. Pretty soon we will be watching more people starve as land is put into monoculture production for biodiesel and biochar and everyone is patting themselves on the back on how clever and "green" they are. It's really sad.