[Terrapreta] The economics of biochar

[Rick Davies]

Hi all

I have started to look into how I could buy carbon offsets that would
compensate for the CO2 generated by my international airflights each year.
One of those is a London-Melbourne return trip.  According to ClimateCare in
the UK (http://www.climatecare.org/) the total mileage of this flight is 20,994
Miles and the resulting emissions are: 5.57 Tonnes of CO2 (Put aside for the
time being the question of how accurate this estimate is). The cost to
offset this CO2 will be £41.76, if I use Climate Care's services.

I searched the web to find out how much carbon there is in a tonne of C02.
One source says "Carbon comprises 12/44 of the mass of carbon dioxide" (
http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/state_energyco2inv.html) So, my
5.57tonnes of CO2 would be equal to
1.51 tonnes of carbon.

I was then interested to see what it would cost me to buy that carbon,
literally, in the form of charcoal that is already being produced, and
preferably from renewable sources. I found a UK company called Bioregional
Charcoal Company, which sells charcoal to garden centres and supermarkets on
behalf of 25 local charcoal producers around the country, who produce
charcoal from long established coppiced woodlands. See
http://www.bioregional.com/programme_projects/forestry_prog/charcoal/char_hmpg.htmfor
more information.

Their charcoal sells for around £5.00 a bag of 3kgs, in the supermarkets.
Assuming at least a 100% markup by the supermarkets, this suggests the
charcoal makers could be selling charcoal at about £0.83 pence per kilo. If
I bought charcoal from them, and asked them simply to bury in one way or
another (so long as it was visibly beyond use as a fuel) it would cost me
£1,253 to offset my flight to Australia. Not realistic at all!

I then found an interesting paper on charcoal exports from Ghana, at
http://www.gepcghana.com/content/File/profiles/Product%20Profile-Charcoal.pdf

Ghana exports charcoal to the UK and about 90% of charcoal used in the UK is
imported. On page 3 they estimate that coal producers must be selling
charcoal for export at around £0.06 per kilo (£2.18 per 40 kg bag). If this
was the price I paid I could afford my carbon offset, it would cost me about
£91.00, though it is still about twice what Climate care are offering. The
downside is greater uncertainty about the sustainable sourcing of the
charcoal from Ghana, though the paper does say that some suppliers are using
sustainable sources. The upside is that my pounds might be going to people
more in need than those in the UK

My next step is to contact Bioregional and ask them about their wholesale
charcoal process, and also to contact a local charcoal producer a friend of
a friend knows about, to see what prices they could offer me if I wanted to
buy their charcoal, and then ask them to bury what I buy. I know Bioregional
know about biochar /terrapreta, but at present there is no economic
incentive for them to do much in this area yet. But If I and others (whose
demand I could aggregate) could buy charcoal from them, then they would be
able to afford to experiment with different forms of charcoal "burial", both
in farmland, saleable compost, and on the same ground as their coppiced
trees. Similarly perhaps in Ghana.

If you have any thoughts on this line of thinking please let me know.
Basically, how can we create economic incentives for people to experiment
with using charcoal for soil improvement by paying for its carbon
sequestration uses?
regards, rick davies

-- 
Rick Davies (Dr),
Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Mobile:  (44) 07855 766 354, Skype: rickjdavies,
Email: rick.davies at gmail.com
Monitoring and Evaluation NEWS at http://www.mande.co.uk
Rick on the Road at http://www.mandenews.blogspot.com
Homepage at http://www.shimbir.demon.co.uk
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