Interesting Statements from Biochar Conference, from Climate Today
– Minimal data available suggest biochar has 500-1000 year half life.
– Biochar has multiple benefits- it can mitigate climate change, be a powerful waste management tool, provide energy, and improve soils. All these are powerful, but sometimes multiple benefits confuse people about what biochar really is and who should claim it. Thus far, it tends to get lost in policy discussions. Biochar also can reduce the health-damaging effects of home cook stoves used in developing countries and reduce deforestation caused by using wood for cook stoves.
Biochar can be created through different methods and different feedstocks and thus can be adapted to provide benefits to different kinds of soils as tailored chars. One needs to do some research to determine what is best for particular soils. Even alkaline soils can benefit when done appropriately. Biochar can be treated once made to have specific qualities.
– A wide variety of projects are going on around the world- 20 tons a week in South Africa from macadamia shells, 14 tons a week in British Columbia, a new manufacturing plant in China making small stoves, simple cooking stoves from cookie tins designed for herdsmen in Manchuria, and a new plant in Dunlap, Tennessee which will have the capacity to create 8,000 lbs an hour.
– Ties are being built with international programs fighting desertification because biochar can help restore recently destroyed drylands. See http://www.unccd.int/
– The National Labs in Italy want to work on desertification and were offered 2 choices- a very big scale project or “10,000 stoves.” Recognizing the barriers to transporting biomass long distances to a big plant, they chose the stoves! Four African countries are now creating the Lucia stove, Lucia stove invented by entrepreneur Nat Mulcahy of WorldStove with local manufacturing.
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