[Terrapreta] carbon and compost

[Tom Miles]

Duane,

Your examples demonstrate that current markets and much discussion
undervalue CO2 compared with apparent carbon production costs. My purpose in
looking at production costs and benefits is to try to establish some
realistic expectations about charcoal values as they relate to use. Edward
makes an important point: in our economies it costs more to process biomass
than one would guess. Charcoal products will be expensive unless they are
made as byproducts or co-products of other energy products like heat or
steam.  

CO2 markets or credits may eventually impact the charcoal producer but I
think the prime motivation for making charcoal has to be something like
terra preta.       

Tom

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Duane Pendergast [mailto:still.thinking at computare.org]
> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 11:21 AM
> Subject: RE: [Terrapreta] carbon and compost
> 
> Tom,
> 
> You estimate production costs of char at about $125 to $200 per ton. I
> guess
> that translates to about $35 to $55 per ton of CO2 captured if the char
> is
> taken to be all carbon. It's good to see you are focusing on the value
> of
> benefits if that char is placed in the soil.
> 
> It is interesting to compare your production costs for char with some
> costs
> for CO2 emissions currently proposed for carbon management in Canada.
>