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Published online 1 October 2008 | Nature 455, 581 (2008) | doi:10.1038/455581a
News in Brief
Carbon dioxide emissions rise to record levels
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The Only Carbon Negitive Energy system................ Biochar/Biofuels as one of many energy bridges to a Post-Combustion age. A Non-Combustion process that sequesters carbon in soil.................... Pyrolysis does have an energy penalty. However the concomitant benefits to soil biomass & productivity, while vastly reducing GHG soil emissions, gives us an ever growing virtuous energy cycle................... Dr.James Hansen?s Global warming solutions paper and letter to the G-8 conference last month, and coming article in Science, place Biochar land management at center stage......................... http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0804/0804.1126.pdf.....................National Geographic Magazine; Where Food Begins..... http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/soil/mann-text...................................................Biochar / Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.
@ Erich Knight: see Wardle et al., 2008: "Fire-derived charcoal causes loss of forest humus" (Science 320, p. 629). Biochar at massive scale seems patently absurd and is really just a thought experiment.
Total CO2 Equivalence:.............................. Once a commercial bagged soil amendment product, every suburban household can do it,............. The label can tell them of their contribution, a 40# bag = 150# CO2 = 160 bags / year to cover my personal CO2 emissions. (20,000 #/yr , 1/2 Average)...... http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html.................................. But that is just the Carbon!.......................... I have yet to find a total CO2 equivalent number taking consideration against some average field N2O & CH4 emissions. The New Zealand work shows 10X N2O reductions............................................. This ACS study implicates soil structure as main connection to N2O soil emissions;..................... http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Paper41955.html ..................................... ......biochar papers at the ACS Huston meeting see Ron Larson's post http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/message/1852 ............................... ......Biochar Studies at ACS Huston meeting;.......... 578-I: http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Session4231.html ........................ 579-II http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Session4496.html .................................... 665 - III. http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Session4497.html ......................... 666-IV http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2008am/webprogram/Session4498.html ......................... Most all this work corroborates char soil dynamics we have seen so far . The soil GHG emissions work showing increased CO2 , also speculates that this CO2 has to get through the hungry plants above before becoming a GHG....................................... The SOM, MYC & Microbes, N2O (soil structure), CH4 , nutrient holding , Nitrogen shock, humic compound conditioning, absorbing of herbicides all pretty much what we expected to hear.