[Terrapreta] The economics of biochar

[Rick Davies]

Hi Gerard

Thanks for your response. My responses in turn are given below
regards, rick

On Dec 29, 2007 10:40 AM, Gerald Van Koeverden <vnkvrdn at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> 1.  The other question to ask is what do you get for 41.76 pounds from
> Climate Care?  For how long will that 5.57 tons of CO2 be sequestered?
>  From previous discussions here, if they are using it to plant trees, it
> might not be doing much for very long.
>

You can see more on how they do it at
http://www.climatecare.org/projects/technologies/rainforest-restoration/
Reforestation is one method, accounting for 20% of their offsets
It appears that the reforestation work (in Uganda) is new growth that will
provide stable long term storage

>
> But burying charcoal seems top be a much longer long-term technique of
> sequestering carbon.  So, over the long run, burying one ton of charcoal
> might be the equivalent of planting enough trees to theoretically sequester
> several  times that amount...??  Once this is factored into the equation for
> pricing its value ( amount of effect multiplied by time) you could pay a lot
> more for charcoal...
>

In the Climate Care case above I think they would argue that the reported
scale of sequestration via reforrestation should not be discounted. But
there is another difference here, which I think is important. That is the
measurability of the sequestration. Calculating the weight of an amount of
charcoal is a lot easier than calculating the net increase in biomass in a
forest.Similarly, the mixing of that charcoal into soil, or compost, could
be videoed, as evidence. But verifying by video or any other means the
maintenance of x amount of added biomass would be much more difficult to do,
especially in a way that the general public could understand.

>
> 2.  The huge difference between what farmers get for their charcoal and
> what merchants get in the store is both a reflection of the difference in
> incomes between the two, as well as the cost of transportation.  Charcoal is
> very light, but bulk shipping costs are mainly determined by volume.  To be
> economical, charcoal (or char) has to be used close to its production site,
> as you are proposing.
>

Yes, and I have not figured in the reduction of CO2 omissions resulting from
avoidance of transport costs. But this could be quite variable, so I would
prefer to leave it out. In the UK case the charcoal is produced on a
decentralised basis, but in the Ghana case, you have a sea voyage before it
gets to the UK

>
> 3.  Until we get some idea of the actual market and thus the dollar value
> of biochar as produced by existing pyrolysis plants, we can't really come up
> with a realistic figure to discover what market prices we soil-stewards are
> competing with locally...
>

I have assumed that the relevant market price is what existing charcoal
producers are selling their charcoal for. That is what I am trying to
discover in the next week or so

regards, rick

>
> Gerrit
>
>
> On 29-Dec-07, at 4:45 AM, Rick Davies wrote:
>
> 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
> 5.57 tonnes 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.htm
> for 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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>
>


-- 
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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