As the Climate Talks begin in Paris today, I thought it might be worthwhile to provide a biochar ‘greatest hits’ to highlight just how helpful biochar can be in terms of climate change. There is a fast growing body of biochar research these days (check out IBI’s bibliography here), so much so that it is increasingly difficult to stay abreast of it all. However I have previously covered many of the disparate biochar research areas in my blog, so I thought I would select the 21 most relevant posts on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Here there are in no particular order:
- The Precautionary Principal & Biochar & Climate: given the dire predictions for the climate, waiting for all possible research questions related to biochar to be answered, might not be the best option.
- Decarbonization Roadmap: the various ways biochar can lower the carbon footprint in different industries.
- Dr. James Hanson & Biochar: former NASA scientist cautiously talks about his biochar experiments with his granddaughter.
- Methane Rising – Can Biochar Help? The various ways biochar can mitigate CH4 from rice fields, landfills and manure piles.
- Biochar & Landfills: research shows biochar used as daily cover can help reduce CH4 emissions.
- Disaster Debris & Char: converting downed biomass from natural disaster into biochar provides multiple benefits.
- Disaster Recovery & Char Part II: biochar production with a Kon Tiki can help purify water, provide heat for cooking, upcycle human waste, create building materials, etc.
- Markets for Biochar: long lasting products made with biochar go far beyond soil amendments.
- CHAB Markets: closed loop market opportunities for combined heat and biochar (CHAB) production technologies.
- Biochar Products are BioUpgradable: Biodegradable is so last century. We need bioUPgradable products!
- Microbeads & Biochar: Replacing microbeads with biochar will help keep our dwindling supply of drinking water free of polluting plastics.
- Harvesting Heat from a Kon-Tiki kiln: RIT engineering students testing ways to purify water and dry crops while making biochar
- E-coli & Biochar: biochar can reduce leaching of E-coli into groundwater as well as plant uptake.
- Acid Rain & Biochar: instead of flying in lime to rebalance pH, perhaps biochar could be made from forest debris and used in remote lakes damaged by acid rain.
- Storm Water Management & Biochar: slowing down and filtering storm water with biochar is a win win.
- Charvest the Invaders: burning off invasive species is a common but wasteful and polluting practice. Converting it into biochar would be beneficial on many fronts.
- Algae Blooms, Invasive Species & Drinking Water: biochar helps reduce fertilizer leaching into waterways.
- Aging Infrastructure = Carbon Sequestration Opportunity: adding biochar to cement offers new sequestration opportunities.
- Ruminations on Ruminants ruminating on biochar: how adding biochar to livestock feed can lower CH4 emissions, improve weight gain and health in cows.
- Bovine Bedding & biochar: adding char to cow bedding reduces odors, CH4 emissions and leaching.
- Could the next biochar frontier by “Sea-questration”?: could biochar cement help rebuild coral reefs?
