permaculture

[Cory Brennan <cory8570@yahoo.com>]

In Florida, we are experimenting with biochar as a viable way to build soils 
in a climate with sandy, porous soils and a hot baking sun, where nutrient 
loss can be extreme - there are parallels with the Amazon where biochar has 
been so successful. 

Cory


________________________________
From: Michael Pilarski <friendsofthetrees@yahoo.com>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 1:28 AM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Biochar

A piece of charcoal in the soil is carbon that is sequestered for hundreds or 
thousands of years.  To give you an idea how stable charcoal is, ponder that 
carbon dating techniques of archeology are based on measuring carbon isotopes 
in charcoal from ancient sites. 

More importantly, think of each piece of biochar as a giant apartment house 
for soil microbes.,  A place to sleep, eat, rest, procreate and evade large 
predators.  Each piece of biochar is a great place for cation exchange 
activitity and many soil nutrients are adfixed to the biochar.  They are a 
sink for soil nutrients. Each apartment house is occupied by an endless 
stream of tenants for hundreds or thousands of years. 

They also hold moisture and add texture and porosity to soil. 

this all adds up to increased soil life, increased crop yields, increased 
biomass.

All in all, a pretty good thing to have in your soil.  Multiply the 
beneficial affect on arable soils worldwide and we have one of the techniques 
that can help us build an exhuberant biosphere.  

Only one technique out of many, but let's use it where appropriate.  

I highly recommend research, experimentation and an open mind. 

Michael pilarski

--- On Wed, 11/16/11, Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com> wrote:

From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Biochar is part of a LOCAL solution
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 8:50 PM

On Nov 16, 2011, at 3:33 PM, John D'hondt wrote:

> 
> I like this but still think that charcoal burning is detrimental if we want 
> to stop climate change. We produce 20 times more CO2 while making charcoal 
> than we ever sequester whatever system we use. 

I was just at a biochar workshop this weekend and the numbers given were that 
the method we used can sequester 40% of the carbon in a given piece of wood, 
and that's more than if microbes ate it, and far better than the "20x" that 
you state. Does your number come from an actual calculation? The numbers I've 
seen suggest that a clean pyrolysis is carbon neutral or even negative by 
weight, since putting pure carbon in the soil means that nearly 3 times that 
weight (the weight of one carbon plus two oxygens) is kept out of the 
atmosphere. (that strikes me as a funny way to calculate it, but that's how 
they do it for CO2)

I think the jury is still out on biochar in temperate climates, but replacing 
inefficient open fires or wood stoves with biochar pyrolysis makes a huge 
amount of sense, since you get a much cleaner burn (reduced pollution), more 
efficient generation of heat for cooking, and a useable product in the 
charcoal, instead of ash. So for cultures that rely on wood, it's very smart.

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com

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>From cory8570@yahoo.com  Thu Nov 17 02:41:20 2011
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From: Cory Brennan <cory8570@yahoo.com>
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In Haiti, Africa and other places they are piloting a biochar producing stove 
that burns things like canteloupe rind and other "waste" and turns it into 
charcoal (Lucia Worldstove). That has many implications for salvaging trees, 
fixing carbon, renewing depleted and eroded soils, etc, etc, etc. Open flame 
charcoal stoves are ubiquitous in Haiti and men carrying huge sacks of 
biochar made from trees cut down from mountainsides is a common site. 
Erosion, soil loss and desertification cut from the top of mountains all the 
way to the sea in too some places because of this practice. Finding a more 
renewable solution is of prime importance to salvaging ecosystems and feeding 
the country. 

Cory


________________________________
From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 11:50 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Biochar is part of a LOCAL solution

On Nov 16, 2011, at 3:33 PM, John D'hondt wrote:

> 
> I like this but still think that charcoal burning is detrimental if we want 
> to stop climate change. We produce 20 times more CO2 while making charcoal 
> than we ever sequester whatever system we use. 

I was just at a biochar workshop this weekend and the numbers given were that 
the method we used can sequester 40% of the carbon in a given piece of wood, 
and that's more than if microbes ate it, and far better than the "20x" that 
you state. Does your number come from an actual calculation? The numbers I've 
seen suggest that a clean pyrolysis is carbon neutral or even negative by 
weight, since putting pure carbon in the soil means that nearly 3 times that 
weight (the weight of one carbon plus two oxygens) is kept out of the 
atmosphere. (that strikes me as a funny way to calculate it, but that's how 
they do it for CO2)

I think the jury is still out on biochar in temperate climates, but replacing 
inefficient open fires or wood stoves with biochar pyrolysis makes a huge 
amount of sense, since you get a much cleaner burn (reduced pollution), more 
efficient generation of heat for cooking, and a useable product in the 
charcoal, instead of ash. So for cultures that rely on wood, it's very smart.

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com

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>From jason.nicholls@gmail.com  Thu Nov 17 02:54:15 2011
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There is research being done here in Australia by the CSIRO. The link below
is from 2009 so not sure what the latest is. Not sure if the research is
still ongoing (there are some contact addresses there if anyone wants to
follow up).

http://www.csiro.au/resources/Biochar-Factsheet.html

Download the factsheet and look at the corn!


On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 3:34 PM, Cory Brennan <cory8570@yahoo.com> wrote:

> In Florida, we are experimenting with biochar as a viable way to build
> soils in a climate with sandy, porous soils and a hot baking sun, where
> nutrient loss can be extreme - there are parallels with the Amazon where
> biochar has been so successful.
>
> Cory
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Michael Pilarski <friendsofthetrees@yahoo.com>
> To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 1:28 AM
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] Biochar
>
> A piece of charcoal in the soil is carbon that is sequestered for hundreds
> or thousands of years.  To give you an idea how stable charcoal is, ponder
> that carbon dating techniques of archeology are based on measuring carbon
> isotopes in charcoal from ancient sites.
>
> More importantly, think of each piece of biochar as a giant apartment
> house for soil microbes.,  A place to sleep, eat, rest, procreate and evade
> large predators.  Each piece of biochar is a great place for cation
> exchange activitity and many soil nutrients are adfixed to the biochar.
> They are a sink for soil nutrients. Each apartment house is occupied by an
> endless stream of tenants for hundreds or thousands of years.
>
> They also hold moisture and add texture and porosity to soil.
>
> this all adds up to increased soil life, increased crop yields, increased
> biomass.
>
> All in all, a pretty good thing to have in your soil.  Multiply the
> beneficial affect on arable soils worldwide and we have one of the
> techniques that can help us build an exhuberant biosphere.
>
> Only one technique out of many, but let's use it where appropriate.
>
> I highly recommend research, experimentation and an open mind.
>
> Michael pilarski
>
> --- On Wed, 11/16/11, Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com> wrote:
>
> From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] Biochar is part of a LOCAL solution
> To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 8:50 PM
>
> On Nov 16, 2011, at 3:33 PM, John D'hondt wrote:
>
> >
> > I like this but still think that charcoal burning is detrimental if we
> want
> > to stop climate change. We produce 20 times more CO2 while making
> charcoal
> > than we ever sequester whatever system we use.
>
> I was just at a biochar workshop this weekend and the numbers given were
> that the method we used can sequester 40% of the carbon in a given piece of
> wood, and that's more than if microbes ate it, and far better than the
> "20x" that you state. Does your number come from an actual calculation? The
> numbers I've seen suggest that a clean pyrolysis is carbon neutral or even
> negative by weight, since putting pure carbon in the soil means that nearly
> 3 times that weight (the weight of one carbon plus two oxygens) is kept out
> of the atmosphere. (that strikes me as a funny way to calculate it, but
> that's how they do it for CO2)
>
> I think the jury is still out on biochar in temperate climates, but
> replacing inefficient open fires or wood stoves with biochar pyrolysis
> makes a huge amount of sense, since you get a much cleaner burn (reduced
> pollution), more efficient generation of heat for cooking, and a useable
> product in the charcoal, instead of ash. So for cultures that rely on wood,
> it's very smart.
>
> Toby
> http://patternliteracy.com
>
> _______________________________________________
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> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
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> about this list here:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
> Garden Hand Tool Sourcelist and Biointensive Gardening Guide
> http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/documents/gardening-hand-tools.faq
> permaculture forums http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums
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>
> _______________________________________________
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> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
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> about this list here:
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> _______________________________________________
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>
>


--
Jason Nicholls
jason@mindsocket.com.au
0430 314 857