[Terrapreta] Your input needed: "Soil health" at Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels

[Kevin Chisholm]

Dear Lou

lou gold wrote:
> I think we totally agree that the solution takes the form of tying 
> biofuel production to biochar, waste management and soil restoration. 
> Otherwise it will be just another "new variable" binge as fossil fuel 
> was.

I certainly don't agree with that at all. There are 4 issues here:
1: Biofuel
2: Biochar
3: Waste Management
4: Soil restoration.

What happens if someone wants to make ethanol from cellulose? There is 
no biochar, and there is no soil restoration component.

What happens if the economics of adding biochar to soil are not favourable?

On the other hand, they may very well want to work together in an 
economically supportive manner. At the present, I just don't know. 
Perhaps others know, but I don't.

Best wishes,

Kevin
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 11:18 PM, Michael Bailes 
> <michaelangelica at gmail.com <mailto:michaelangelica at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>          BIG ENERGY 
>
>      
>     OK
>     I just get the feeling that the hysterical anti-biofuels stuff is
>     being orchestrated, like the tobacco lobby.
>     Certainly there have been some early 'cock-ups' and subsiding corn
>     ethanol is a bit stupid.
>     (But the more everyone winges about Western- USA, EU, Japan,
>     Korea, Aust.-subsidies the more things stay the same).
>     Bio-fuels *have *to be a stop-gap measure for the planet, till we
>     invent something better.
>     Unfortuanely the 'bum rap' biofuels are getting in the States is
>     rubbing off on sugar-cane ethanol here.  Only one or two states
>     have mandated 10% ethanol and we do not have our own souce of fuel
>     oil. It is all imported.
>     Biofuels have the *potential *to take our fuel supplies out of the
>     hands of a dozen companies/counties /people and making
>     countless-thousand, little businesses and happy farmers.
>     m :twocents:
>
>
>
>         It's important to note that the subsidies (or tariffs) for US
>         ethanol go to both oil companies and corn farming. Today, the
>         NY Times editorialized against continued support for US corn
>         ethanol: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/opinion/11sun1.html?hp
>
>         On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 4:35 PM, Michael Bailes
>         <michaelangelica at gmail.com <mailto:michaelangelica at gmail.com>>
>         wrote:
>
>             You may be interested in this
>             http://hypography.com/forums/terra-preta/11716-what-plants-might-grown-just-bio.html
>
>             Dynamotive is producing Bio-oil from pyrolysis and is
>             experimenting with it as a soil amendment-fertiliser-additive
>             Michael
>
>             BIG OIL does not like biofuels; Do they?
>
>             2008/5/1 Laurens Rademakers <lrademakers at biopact.com
>             <mailto:lrademakers at biopact.com>>:
>
>                 Hi,
>                 I'm part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (at
>                 the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne's Energy
>                 Center), which is developing social, environmental and
>                 other sustainability criteria for biofuels. It does so
>                 in a set of discussion groups
>
>
>
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>             http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/
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>
>
>
>
>         -- 
>         http://lougold.blogspot.com
>         http://flickr.com/visionshare/sets
>         http://youtube.com/my_videos 
>
>
>
>
>     -- 
>     Michael the Archangel
>
>     "Politicians will never solve The Problem;
>     because they don't realise they are The Problem.".
>     -Robert ( Bob ) Parsons 1995
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> http://lougold.blogspot.com
> http://flickr.com/visionshare/sets
> http://youtube.com/my_videos
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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