Albedo Impact on the Suitability of Biochar Systems To Mitigate Global Warming Sebastian Meyer<http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&author=Meyer%2C+Sebastian&qsSearchArea=author> *<http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es302302g#cor1>†, Ryan M. Bright<http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&author=Bright%2C+Ryan+M.&qsSearchArea=author> ‡, Daniel Fischer<http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&author=Fischer%2C+Daniel&qsSearchArea=author> †, Hardy Schulz<http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&author=Schulz%2C+Hardy&qsSearchArea=author> †, and Bruno Glaser<http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&author=Glaser%2C+Bruno&qsSearchArea=author> † † Soil Biogeochemistry, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany ‡ Industrial Ecology Program, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTU), Trondheim, Norway Environ. Sci. Technol., 2012, 46 (22), pp 12726–12734 DOI: 10.1021/es302302g Publication Date (Web): November 12, 2012 Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society *Phone: 0049-176-23595765; e-mail: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. [CAS]<http://cas.org/>Section: Air Pollution and Industrial Hygiene<http://pubs.acs.org/topic/industrial_hygiene> Abstract
Biochar application to agricultural soils can change the surface albedo which could counteract the climate mitigation benefit of biochar systems. However, the size of this impact has not yet been quantified. Based on empirical albedo measurements and literature data of arable soils mixed with biochar, a model for annual vegetation cover development based on satellite data and an assessment of the annual development of surface humidity, an average mean annual albedo reduction of 0.05 has been calculated for applying 30–32 Mg ha–1 biochar on a test field near Bayreuth, Germany. The impact of biochar production and application on the carbon cycle and on the soil albedo was integrated into the greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of a modeled pyrolysis based biochar system via the computation of global warming potential (GWP) characterization factors. The analysis resulted in a reduction of the overall climate mitigation benefit of biochar systems by 13–22% due to the albedo change as compared to an analysis which disregards the albedo effect. Comparing the use of the same quantity of biomass in a biochar system to a bioenergy district heating system which replaces natural gas combustion, bioenergy heating systems achieve 99–119% of the climate benefit of biochar systems according to the model calculation. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
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