Wake up to the Global Emergency ! - Bob Wilson (CELT)
James Hansen, head of NASA Goddard Institute in New York says that current targets for CO2 emissions - most stringent being EU at 550 parts per million (ppm) - are far too high and would warm the world by six degrees - a disaster scenario. We must cut to 350 ppm if we wish "to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed". This is based on latest evidence from core samples taken from the bottom of the ocean, tracking CO2 levels over millions of years of changing climate.
In light of this, we need to accelerate our transition to sustainable living. According to Paul Allen of Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), even if we cut to zero emissions now, we are still committed to two degrees warming as heat is dissipated through land-mass and sea. The tipping point leading to unstoppable global warming is estimated to be around 3 degrees increase. It is time for urgent action - a Zero Carbon strategy. What is our current - and potential - renewables resource ? This is the first question we in Ireland (and most other countries) need to answer.
Thankfully hundreds of towns and villages worldwide are already taking up transition initiatives based upon the suggestions of Rob Hopkins (co-founder of The Transition Network www.transitionculture.org) and / or others (e.g. The Natural Step process founded by Karl-Henrik Robert in Sweden in 1989).
I call upon governments and communities to wake up to the global emergency facing us and accelerate the transition process through provision of educational inititiatives such as 'Skilling Up for Powerdown' training courses now being offered by Davie Philip and colleagues at Cultivate Sustainability Centre in Dublin (shortly moving to Cloughjordan Eco-Village).
Bio-Char
Heard about Bio-char ? - the use of charcoal as a soil improver which stores nutrients with slow release whilst locking up carbon in the soil (and in plants and fungi growing in it).
Here in Ireland, FEASTA (Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability) are looking at biochar and sustainable woodlands as ways of sequestering carbon that ought to be encouraged. Also CELT (Centre for Environmental Living and Training) are linking with Ecological and Environmental NGOs Forum (EENGO), Woodland League, Burrenbeo, Irish Coppice Association and Irish Seedsavers Association on ways to work with both landowners and government bodies towards the same ends.
According to (Ecologist / Economist / Author / Broadcaster) Richard Douthwaite : -
British climate economist now working in New Zealand, Peter Read, in a paper (click here),
suggests that restrictions on the use of fossil fuels might be unnecessary if methods of sequestering carbon in the Earth's soils and the plants growing on them were vigorously applied. Indeed, it might even be possible "to return within [the next fifty years] to
pre-industrial levels of carbon in atmosphere, or even below." He points out that each year "the terrestrial biosphere absorbs and emits over twenty times as much CO2 as the energy sector emits [The Woods Hole Lab. in the US puts this figure at 15 times], and fixes about six times as much in the complex carbohydrates that constitute biomass."
While biochar has the potential to improve any land, its value is likely to be greatest in horticultural and other arable soils where it will play a particularly valuable role in holding water and nutrients.
Also see what an Australian group have been doing - www.amazingcarbon.com
Extract from journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (The Ecological Society of America) - Bio-energy in the Black - Johannes Lehmann, Cornell University, New York
Common renewable energy strategies can at best off-set fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide, but are not able to reverse climate change. One promising approach of lowering carbon dioxide in the atmosphere while producing energy is bio-char bio-energy based on low-temperature pyrolysis. This bio-energy technology relies on capturing the off-gases from thermal decomposition of wood or grasses to produce heat, electricity or bio-fuels. Bio-char is a significant by-product of this pyrolysis with remarkable environmental properties. Bio-char in soil was shown to persist longer and to retain cations better than other forms of soil organic matter. The precise half-life of bio-char is still disputed, however, and will have important implications for the value of the technology including carbon trading. In addition, the cation retention of fresh bio-char is relatively low compared to aged bio-char in soil and it is not clear after what period of time and under which condition bio-char attains its adsorbing properties. In order to maximize the favorable attributes of bio-char and fully evaluate environmental risks, research is needed at this critical juncture in the development of a bio-char bio-energy technology that has the potential to provide a significant carbon sink and to reduce environmental pollution by fertilizers.
In a nutshell:
- Current approaches to replace fossil fuel with renewable energy at best reduce emissions, but are unable to reverse climate change.
- A new strategy obtains energy from gases produced by thermally degrading trees, shrubs, grasses, or organic wastes - very similar to charcoal making - in a process
called pyrolysis. Charcoal or “bio-char” is left behind.
- The proposed approach to combine pyrolysis for energy production with bio-char additions to soil builds on its proven longevity and ability to retain cations better than other forms of carbon in the environment to actively draw carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere, regenerate degraded lands, and reduce environmental pollution.
- Precise knowledge of the longevity of bio-char and of the time and conditions to develop adsorptive properties is needed to evaluate its economic and environmental benefits.
- A full environmental risk assessment needs to be conducted to convincingly demonstrate the level of emissions and lack of any soil contamination associated with the technology.
James Hansen, head of NASA Goddard Institute in New York says that current targets for CO2 emissions - most stringent being EU at 550 parts per million (ppm) - are far too high and would warm the world by six degrees - a disaster scenario. We must cut to 350 ppm if we wish "to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed". This is based on latest evidence from core samples taken from the bottom of the ocean, tracking CO2 levels over millions of years of changing climate.
In light of this, we need to accelerate our transition to sustainable living. According to Paul Allen of Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), even if we cut to zero emissions now, we are still committed to two degrees warming as heat is dissipated through land-mass and sea. The tipping point leading to unstoppable global warming is estimated to be around 3 degrees increase. It is time for urgent action - a Zero Carbon strategy. What is our current - and potential - renewables resource ? This is the first question we in Ireland (and most other countries) need to answer.
Thankfully hundreds of towns and villages worldwide are already taking up transition initiatives based upon the suggestions of Rob Hopkins (co-founder of The Transition Network www.transitionculture.org) and / or others (e.g. The Natural Step process founded by Karl-Henrik Robert in Sweden in 1989).
I call upon governments and communities to wake up to the global emergency facing us and accelerate the transition process through provision of educational inititiatives such as 'Skilling Up for Powerdown' training courses now being offered by Davie Philip and colleagues at Cultivate Sustainability Centre in Dublin (shortly moving to Cloughjordan Eco-Village).
Bio-Char
Heard about Bio-char ? - the use of charcoal as a soil improver which stores nutrients with slow release whilst locking up carbon in the soil (and in plants and fungi growing in it).
Here in Ireland, FEASTA (Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability) are looking at biochar and sustainable woodlands as ways of sequestering carbon that ought to be encouraged. Also CELT (Centre for Environmental Living and Training) are linking with Ecological and Environmental NGOs Forum (EENGO), Woodland League, Burrenbeo, Irish Coppice Association and Irish Seedsavers Association on ways to work with both landowners and government bodies towards the same ends.
According to (Ecologist / Economist / Author / Broadcaster) Richard Douthwaite : -
British climate economist now working in New Zealand, Peter Read, in a paper (click here),
suggests that restrictions on the use of fossil fuels might be unnecessary if methods of sequestering carbon in the Earth's soils and the plants growing on them were vigorously applied. Indeed, it might even be possible "to return within [the next fifty years] to
pre-industrial levels of carbon in atmosphere, or even below." He points out that each year "the terrestrial biosphere absorbs and emits over twenty times as much CO2 as the energy sector emits [The Woods Hole Lab. in the US puts this figure at 15 times], and fixes about six times as much in the complex carbohydrates that constitute biomass."
While biochar has the potential to improve any land, its value is likely to be greatest in horticultural and other arable soils where it will play a particularly valuable role in holding water and nutrients.
Also see what an Australian group have been doing - www.amazingcarbon.com
Extract from journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (The Ecological Society of America) - Bio-energy in the Black - Johannes Lehmann, Cornell University, New York
Common renewable energy strategies can at best off-set fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide, but are not able to reverse climate change. One promising approach of lowering carbon dioxide in the atmosphere while producing energy is bio-char bio-energy based on low-temperature pyrolysis. This bio-energy technology relies on capturing the off-gases from thermal decomposition of wood or grasses to produce heat, electricity or bio-fuels. Bio-char is a significant by-product of this pyrolysis with remarkable environmental properties. Bio-char in soil was shown to persist longer and to retain cations better than other forms of soil organic matter. The precise half-life of bio-char is still disputed, however, and will have important implications for the value of the technology including carbon trading. In addition, the cation retention of fresh bio-char is relatively low compared to aged bio-char in soil and it is not clear after what period of time and under which condition bio-char attains its adsorbing properties. In order to maximize the favorable attributes of bio-char and fully evaluate environmental risks, research is needed at this critical juncture in the development of a bio-char bio-energy technology that has the potential to provide a significant carbon sink and to reduce environmental pollution by fertilizers.
In a nutshell:
- Current approaches to replace fossil fuel with renewable energy at best reduce emissions, but are unable to reverse climate change.
- A new strategy obtains energy from gases produced by thermally degrading trees, shrubs, grasses, or organic wastes - very similar to charcoal making - in a process
called pyrolysis. Charcoal or “bio-char” is left behind.
- The proposed approach to combine pyrolysis for energy production with bio-char additions to soil builds on its proven longevity and ability to retain cations better than other forms of carbon in the environment to actively draw carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere, regenerate degraded lands, and reduce environmental pollution.
- Precise knowledge of the longevity of bio-char and of the time and conditions to develop adsorptive properties is needed to evaluate its economic and environmental benefits.
- A full environmental risk assessment needs to be conducted to convincingly demonstrate the level of emissions and lack of any soil contamination associated with the technology.
