[Terrapreta] [Bioenergy] Cornell biogeochemist shows how reproducing --TerraPreta

[Dick Glick]

Hello Tom and All --

North Florida is much like all of those portions of the southern sates that receives sufficient rainfall -- for the production of fast growing biomass feedstocks.  

But like the rest of the U. S. there is a tendency to slash and burn -- and that's where the problems lie.  Here, it's possible to keep the trees -- and build without the seemingly ubiquitous need to have extensive lawns.  

The landscaping I've advocated -- and even with high density -- is keep the trees at all cost -- then slash and burn doesn't enter the equation.

Today's New York Times -- February 11, 2007 -- In Niger, Trees and Crops Turn Back the Desert -- By LYDIA POLGREEN  addresses where I think bio-char is needed -- and it's Turn Back the Desert  -- and -- for Florida and similar soil in the U. S. -- it's return soil and control  development -- and keep agriculture in its place.  

I'm always impressed when driving through today's France -- how the farmers have won this battle -- their lands are very well kept -- for the most part -- that is.

Best, Dick
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Miles 
  To: Bioenergy at listserv.repp.org ; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
  Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 1:02 PM
  Subject: Re: [Bioenergy] Cornell biogeochemist shows how reproducing --TerraPreta


  Dick,

   

  How about slash and char in the urban landscape? 4% of our productive land and forest land in the US is converted to housing each year. How can bio-char, applied to urban landscaping, horticultural production and urban oriented crops, pay for its own production and contribute to carbon sequestration?

   

  If I have a process that produces biochar in 20 lb bags can I get $2.00/bag or $200/ton for it? 

   

  In Portland we build 5 homes to the acre going in on heavy clay soils. Out of 8,000 ft2 per home 2,000-4,000 ft2 probably gets landscaped. Landscaping is usually included in the cost of the home these days. If I was an enterprising landscaper I could probably convince the developer or home owner that 2-4 tons of biochar (1 ton/1,000 ft2 or 2lb/ft2) would make their yard healthy and substantially reduce irrigation. (Maybe you could go on a summer vacation and not have the plants die.) That should be worth adding $2,000 to the cost of the $300,000 home ($500/1000 ft2 x 4,000 ft2). The benefit of the char will kick in the second or third year, about the time the homeowner starts focusing on the garden.

   

  What is the value of bio-char to a nursery growing plants for the same gardens? They now buy activated carbon for something like $1200/ton. Could they get the same value for $200/ton? 

   

  What is the value of bio-char to blueberries or other crops planted in rows? Could bio-char be trenched in under the plants at the time of planting? Would there be long term benefits?

   

  We have slashed the natural ecology. Can we partly restore it by planting urban char?

   

  Tom       

   

   


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: bioenergy-bounces at listserv.repp.org [mailto:bioenergy-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Dick Glick
  Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 9:34 AM
  To: Brian Hans; Bioenergy at listserv.repp.org
  Subject: [Bioenergy] Cornell biogeochemist shows how reproducing -- TerraPreta

   

  Feb. 18, 2006

  Cornell biogeochemist shows how reproducing the Amazon's black soil could increase fertility and reduce global warming

  http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Feb06/AAAS.terra.preta.ssl.html

  By Susan S. Lang

  ST. LOUIS -- The search for El Dorado in the Amazonian rainforest might not have yielded pots of gold, but it has led to unearthing a different type of gold mine: some of the globe's richest soil that can transform poor soil into highly fertile ground. 

  That's not all. Scientists have a method to reproduce this soil -- known as terra preta, or Amazonian dark earths -- and say it can pull substantial amounts of carbon out of the increasing carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere, helping to prevent global warming. That's because terra preta is loaded with so-called bio-char -- similar to charcoal. 

  "The knowledge that we can gain from studying the Amazonian dark earths, found throughout the Amazon River region, not only teaches us how to restore degraded soils, triple crop yields and support a wide array of crops in regions with agriculturally poor soils, but also can lead to technologies to sequester carbon in soil and prevent critical changes in world climate," said Johannes Lehmann, assistant professor of biogeochemistry in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Cornell University, speaking today (Feb. 18) at the 2006 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 
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