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  • From: "Anne Erlandson" <aerlandson@bigfoot.com>
  • To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] From the Sustainable Industries Journal
  • Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 11:16:58 -0700

a.. AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES: "Ashes to ashes, soils to sequestration"
[RICHLAND, WASH.] -- Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),
scientists at Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL) tend to work on advanced
high-tech energy gadgetry and processes. But one researcher recently released
preliminary results of his work to show that fly ash, a common byproduct of
coal-fired electricity generation, can help restore depleted soils and aid
those soils in sucking up the global warming gas carbon dioxide (CO2).
Most tilling releases CO2 trapped in soils. Researcher Jim Amonette has shown
in lab work that aiding soil alkalinity encourages enzymatic work that helps
soil reincorporate carbon from dead plant matter. Fly ash is one of the soil
amendments that can hasten enzyme activity. Frequent wetting and drying also
assist the process. During this year's growing season, Amonette said he will
field-test his theory.
Amonette said carbon-depleted soils have tremendous reservoir potential to
slow the build up of CO2 in the atmosphere, a main cause of rising global
temperatures. Easy agricultural land sequestration could be good news for
Washington state utilities required by a new law to offset 20 percent of the
carbon emissions from any new power plants built.
PNNL currently has no plans to turn Amonette's discoveries into a saleable
soil amendment, said spokesperson Bill Cannon. But "a clever person could
manufacture one, because this is an approach that might work," he said. "DOE
is interested in carbon sequestration, and this model would kill two birds
with one stone -- a magic potion to make soil suck up carbon, and if it does
enrich soil, a big incentive for farmers to use it."





  • [permaculture] From the Sustainable Industries Journal, Anne Erlandson, 05/07/2004

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