[Terrapreta] Cost of charcoal amendment to soil.

[Robert Niederman]

What if we were to make charcoal out of all our home food waste,
restaurant food waste, home yard, agricultural, and animal waste.  And
what if the city made charcoal out of all yard and park wastes and all
municipal and county waste that could be burned?  And what if the
Federal government made charcoal out of all of its waste?  How many tons
would this amount to in one year?  I bet we could beat Sean's estimates.
Heck, Starbucks could probably contribute 1 gigaton of used coffee
grounds all by itself!  Then we would all be busy digging charcoal into
our yards and making victory gardens.

 

Bob

 

________________________________

From: Michael Bailes [mailto:michaelangelica at gmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 7:55 PM
To: Sean K. Barry
Cc: Robert Niederman; terrapreta
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Cost of charcoal amendment to soil.

 

 

	 

	 Tom Miles also mentioned $260/ton.  That seems an average
price.  As for rate of application ... 1.4% being something like 16
tons/acre springs to mind.  But, I have also seen 4 tons/acre.  I think
it's a crap shoot until you know more about what else needs to go in
with that amendment and how the soil/plant growth responds.

	 

	  The ancients layered this stuff down, year after year, a few
millimeters up to maybe a centimeter a year.  They charred first the
jungle trees, then the plant wastes that were left standing after
cropping.  



Good point
BEST Energies are hopeing to produce car at around AUD$150 a tonne
(US$100? Metric tonne) depending on what it is made from. 
If they can do that with chicken litter car or rice hull char you are
getting free fertiliser for you money (free silica with the rice char).

There is an interesting 10 year experiment going on in Japan at the
moment. They are putting only 100g  to a sq.metre of char (bamboo) onto
Tea plants.
 Already, only 4- 5 years into the experiment, they are getting very
significant increases in growth of the char treated plants. The research
should be searchable on the web 

 


-- 
Michael Bailes.

"I know the answer!
The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
The answer is twelve?
I think I'm in the wrong building."
         -- Charles M. Schulz 

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