Future:Media:Change

My fear is, that the new wonder tech promoted by big business will be CCS, and that all focus might be on a technology that will use up to 40% of produced energy for storing exhaust from coal into the ground. Not ready before 2020 said the industrie this technology will cost billions.

The easiest to reach the aim of 350 ppm is Bio sequestration. http://news.mongabay.com/bioenergy/2007/05/scie...
Each year mankind produces Seven gigatons of CO2 by burning coal and oil. So when it succeeded in turning back the same quantity of biomass in coal - the world climate would be healed.

Folowing Dr. Maria-Magdalena Titirici, Group Leader Max Planck Institute
of Colloids and Interfaces Colloid Chemistry Potsdam- it is relatively easy because the planet produces 120 cubic kilometers of dry biomass. Humanity is already throwing away 10 to 14 cubic kilometers as residual.

Only biomass can be used for the creation of carbon-negative energy systems as it is known by gasification technologie. With bio sequestration we could clean up our emissions from the past 200 years.. All other renewables are carbon-neutral at best, meaning they can only reduce future CO2 emissions.

But Large-scale industry is not interested in this procedure, because it changes the rules. The companies earn very well with current technologies and are not really interested in that change the rules of the competition.

Therefor it is more then important that at Copenhagen climate talks bio sequestration is recognized as a greenhouse gas abatement technology.

The idea has been submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 5th Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 5) in Bonn, Germany, 29 March – 8 April 2009. And now we need both:

Recognition of biochar carbon sink management as valid in the current and post-2012 LULUCF guidelines
Inclusion of biochar in the CDM mechanism along with currently already included afforestation and reforestation

350.org should campaign for this ....

THANK YOU FOR YOUR REGESTRATION

IWOULD LIKE TO PARTNER WITH YOU

I vote with the Climate Farmer,
All political persuasions agree, building soil carbon is GOOD.
To Hard bitten Farmers, wary of carbon regulations that only increase their costs, Building soil carbon is a savory bone, to do well while doing good.

Biochar provides the tool powerful enough to cover Farming's carbon foot print while lowering cost simultaneously.

Another significant aspect of bichar is removal of BC aerosols by low cost ($3) Biomass cook stoves that produce char but no respiratory disease emissions. At Scale, replacing "Three Stone" stoves the health benefits would equal eradication of Malaria.
http://terrapretapot.org/ and village level systems http://biocharfund.org/
The Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF).recently funded The Biochar Fund $300K for these systems citing these priorities;
(1) Hunger amongst the world's poorest people, the subsistence farmers of Sub-Saharan Africa,
(2) Deforestation resulting from a reliance on slash-and-burn farming,
(3) Energy poverty and a lack of access to clean, renewable energy, and
(4) Climate change.

The Biochar Fund :
Exceptional results from biochar experiment in Cameroon
http://scitizen.com/screens/blogPage/viewBlog/s...

http://www.carboncommentary.com/2009/10/01/761/...

The broad smiles of 1500 subsistence farmers say it all ( that , and the size of the Biochar corn root balls )
http://biocharfund.org/index.php?option=com_con...

Mark my words;
Given the potential for Laurens Rademaker's programs to grow exponentialy, only a short time lies between This man's nomination for a Noble Prize.


This authoritative PNAS article should cause the recent Royal Society Report to rethink their criticism of Biochar systems of Soil carbon sequestration;

Reducing abrupt climate change risk using
the Montreal Protocol and other regulatory
actions to complement cuts in CO2 emissions
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/10/09/09...


There are dozens soil researchers on the subject now at USDA-ARS.
and many studies at The up coming ASA-CSSA-SSSA joint meeting;
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2009am/webprogram...


The Clean Energy Partnerships Act of 2009
The bill is designed to ensure that any US domestic cap-and-trade bill provides maximum incentives and opportunities for the US agricultural and forestry sectors to provide high-quality offsets and GHG emissions reductions for credit or financial incentives. Carbon offsets play a critical role in keeping the costs of a cap-and-trade program low for society as well as for capped sectors and entities, while providing valuable emissions reductions and income generation opportunities for the agricultural sector. The bill specifically identifies biochar production and use as eligible for offset credits, and identifies biochar as a high priority for USDA R&D, with funding authorized by the bill.
To read the full text of the bill, go to: http://www.biochar-international.org/sites/defa....


Senator Baucus is co-sponsoring a bill along with Senator Tester (D-MT) called WE CHAR. Water Efficiency via Carbon Harvesting and Restoration Act! It focuses on promoting biochar technology to address invasive species and forest biomass. It includes grants and loans for biochar market research and development, biochar characterization and environmental analyses. It directs USDI and USDA to provide loan guarantees for biochar technologies and on-the-ground production with an emphasis on biomass from public lands. And the USGS is to do biomas availability assessments.
WashingtonWatch.com - S. 1713, The Water Efficiency via Carbon Harvesting and Restoration (WECHAR) Act of 2009

Individual and groups can show support for WECHAR by signing online at:
www.biocharmatters.org
http://www.biocharmatters.org/


Congressional Research Service report (by analyst Kelsi Bracmort) is the best short summary I have seen so far - both technical and policy oriented.
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R40186_20090203.pdf .

United Nations Environment Programme, Climate Change Science Compendium 2009
http://www.unep.org/compendium2009/
http://www.unep.org/compendium2009/PDF/Ch5_comp...


Endorsements;
Bill Clinton said Biochar;
Mantria Industries inducted in Clinton Global Intuitive
http://www.mantria.com/eg_presidential_video.shtml

Al Gore got the CO2 absorption thing wrong, ( at NABC Vilsack did same), but his focus on Soil Carbon is right on;
http://www.newsweek.com/id/220552/page/3

Research:
The future of biochar - Project Rainbow Bee Eater
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/features/2009021...

Japan Biochar Association ;
http://www.geocities.jp/yasizato/pioneer.htm


Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.
Cheers,
Erich

Biochar should be accepted a climate change mitigation and adaptation technology for post-2012 treaty in Copenhagen
The International Biochar Initiative estimates that biochar production has the potential to provide 1 Gt carbon per year in climate mitigation by 2040, or 3.67 Gt CO2 per year, using only waste biomass
The capture of atmospheric CO2 by plants to provide bio-energy followed by carbon capture and storage, combined with afforestation and biochar production, may have the potential to remove 100 ppm of CO2 from the atmosphere under the most optimistic scenarios( http://bit.ly/3NRThU).