Subject: Re: [permaculture] making charcoal cheaply at home?
Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2007 07:34:05 -0500
Much richness in the terrapreta.bioenergylists.
They have posts on charcoal-making and using it for mulch including:
>>
Robert Flanagan's Biochar Stove: Carbon Negative Cooking
October 30, 2007
[Didn't mention emissions, but gotta be better
than current cooking processes...]
http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/terrabiocharstove
...a tabletop charcoal-maker, which also is a
single-burner cookstove. Now, climate-conscious
housewives can proudly have a carbon negative
kitchen to capture carbon with every meal and pot
of tea. A wide variety of fibrous organic
mattercornstalks, nut shells, bamboo, wood
chips, strawcan be stacked in the box, then
ignited at the burner. The stove can be reloaded
with more fuel to use for cooking as long as
needed. A recent demonstration of the stove with
corncobs ran for 25 minutes and boiled 10 liters
of water before charcoal remaining was taken out.
>>
Charcoal mulch worked better than clear polythene http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/rhscharmulch
...prairie grass establishment by direct sowing
is possible in the south of England, especially
when soil temperature is elevated by either
charcoal or clear polythene mulching. Overall the
charcoal treatment was most successful as this
mulch also reduced weed cover early in the first half of the summer.
Rael
Rael Bassan
Chicago Coordinator
2007 Urban Ecovillage Gathering Committee
1020 W. Lawrence Ave. #1216
Chicago, IL, USA, 60640-6535
773-756-5033 http://ecovillagingchicagoland.blogspot.com/