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Published online 6 February 2008 | Nature 451, 612-613 (2008) | doi:10.1038/451612b
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Carbon burial buried
Energy department pulls the plug on FutureGen project.
The US Department of Energy has pulled out of a flagship project to build the first 'clean' coal-fired power plant in the United States, a move that will kill the project unless supporters can rouse Congress on its behalf.
The FutureGen project was intended to demonstrate technologies for capturing and burying carbon dioxide from coal-fuelled power plants; it was scheduled to begin operating in 2012.
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Terra Preta Soils Technology To Master the Carbon Cycle The current news and links on Terra Preta (TP)soils and closed-loop pyrolysis of Biomass, this integrated virtuous cycle could sequester 100s of Billions of tons of carbon to the soils...Not old oil wells or deep geology. This technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.Terra Preta Soils a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility Too. UN Climate Change Conference: Biochar present at the Bali Conference http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/steinerbalinov2107 SCIAM Article May 15 07; http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=5670236C-E7F2-99DF-3E2163B9FB144E40 After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming (AGW) I believe this technology can manage Carbon for the greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales. It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies. The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held by the IPCC that the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal. Below are the first concrete steps in that direction; S.1884 – The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007 A Summary of Biochar Provisions in S.1884: Carbon-Negative Biomass Energy and Soil Quality Initiative for the 2007 Farm Bill http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html If you have any other questions please feel free to call me or visit the TP web site I've been drafted to co-administer. http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=node It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail list , Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox), Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus), chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day of EPRIDA , Dr. Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks and probably many others who's back round I don't know have joined. Also Here is the Latest BIG Terra Preta Soil news; ConocoPhillips Establishes $22.5 Million Pyrolysis Program at Iowa State http://www.conocophillips.com/newsroom/news_releases/2007news/04-10-2007.htm Glomalin, the recently discovered soil protien, may be the secret to to TP soils productivity; http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2003/030205.htm If pre-Columbian Kayopo Indians could produce these soils up to 6 feet deep over 15% of the Amazon basin using "Slash & CHAR" verses "Slash & Burn", it seems that our energy and agricultural industries could also product them at scale. Harnessing the work of this vast number of microbes and fungi changes the whole equation of energy return over energy input (EROEI) for food and Bio fuels. I see this as the only sustainable agricultural strategy if we no longer have cheap fossil fuels for fertilizer. We need this super community of wee beasties to work in concert with us by populating them into their proper Soil horizon Carbon Condos. Erich J. Knight Shenandoah Gardens 1047 Dave Berry Rd. McGaheysville, VA. 22840 (540) 289-9750 shengar@aol.com
The Federal government needs to focus on building hundreds or even thousands of next generation nuclear power plants on Federal lands in remote centralized locations in order to replace coal electric power in this country. Coal is easily the most environmentally damaging and dangerous industries on this planet.