On 09/14/2010 10:32 AM, Nat of WorldStove wrote:
Dear Rogerio, Kim, Crispin, Paul and all, It is true that the lure of quick cash is very strong, however I would like to encourage a longer vision.
The lure of quick cash is strongest when the lure of survival is inherent in it. When any other choice leads to starvation, it is hardly easy to resist eating.
The real powers of biochar producing stoves are: 1) lower emissions 2) eliminate the need to cut down trees for fuel
Really? How does that figure? Assuming the energy needed is constant and the fuel source is constant, the need for fuel will increase if biochar is sequestered since biochar has a carbon content which can be used to provide energy.
3) can use fuel too small to be used by wood burning stoves 4) produce biochar 5) sequester CO2 We are no where near 350 ppm CO2, and sadly the areas that are suffering most due to climate issues are (in many cases) the same areas that currently depend on three rock stoves. While I agree that carbon credits seem to have little value vs charcoal sales, they do allow for small villages to set up their own stove factories creating permanent new jobs without asking for outside aid, and the char produced by the stoves when placed in the soil, can increase crop yields to the point that the earnings from the crop yields far exceeds the earning potential of the charcoal sales. All this while increasing food independence, improving nutrition, restoring desertified lands, and sequestering CO2.
Oh, boy, does something sound improbable. If a small village has no money to build a stove factory, how do carbon credits allow them to do so *without outside aid*? And, while biochar has beneficial long term effects, asking someone who is on the verge of starvation to make his survival more difficult, in the short term, is unlikely to be successful.
If people were to sell the charcoal, non[e] of this would be possible.
If people sell charcoal, they get income which either eases the burdens of survival or allows improvements like the stove factory. Unfortunately, if there is a fixed amount of income in the village or the village is remote and makes transportation difficult, where is the market for the stoves? One can't sell product to oneself and expect a profitable growth market.
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