Roger and List? Your 2007 information is out of date. I have downloaded your file, will read it and respond. Many composting experts are coming around to favoring Biochar - both for soil improvement and sequestration (where composting Carbon has a much shorter life than Biochar. One more comment below.
----- Mensagem original ----- De: "Roger Samson" <[email protected]> Para: [email protected], "rajan jiby" <[email protected]>, "Discussion of biomass cooking stoves" <[email protected]> Enviadas: Quarta-feira, 15 de Setembro de 2010 15:23:48 Assunto: Re: [Stoves] The Biochar myth..another stovers myth Frank Here is a really nice power point on phytoliths, grasses and soil organic matter formation. I think this is brilliant work they are doing in Australia on forming soils while growing energy crops and one of the best practical means to produce loads of bioenergy from farmland while creating great soils. http://www.plantstone.com.au/NSC%20Adelaide.pdf I simply don't think you can develop a more efficient system of producing energy and soils in the same field. Its time to bury terra preta thinking and move on to a more efficient ways of using the land to produce energy while building soils. RWL - Sure, one gets more energy (in the short term) if one combusts all of the biomass. Fortunately a majority of the world experts on these issues are concluding that both sequestration and soil improvement as well as energy.need to be part of the analysis. Soil experts are finding for some soils that soil improvement is enough. Have you done any experiments yourself in this area? Biochar results are seen in the first year in many cases. Ron Roger -----Original Message----- From: frank [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 2:00 PM To: [email protected]; Discussion of biomass cooking stoves Cc: Roger Samson Subject: Re: [Stoves] The Biochar myth..another stovers myth Roger, Crispin, and Stovers, Just a few comments below: <snip> > > > "Saving of trees" happens when we "stop cutting the trees". > Personally, I am very much against unreasonable cutting of trees. > I do not necessarily agree with this. Farming biomass such as trees for an energy source or carbon sequestering (and making money doing it) will encourage more land being used for growing biomass. I think this should be the goal. There are lots of land in the US along rivers, creeks and in the mountains that are owned by lumber companies, open to the public and protected from development. If we stopped using lumber because we replaced it with a different product I wonder how long it would take the loggers to realize it is not worth hanging on to the land for another 50 years. Of course there need be control over harvesting the present day biomass so the future is in mind. <snip> > >> Phytoliths in grasses are also an important carbon source for >> forming soils. > Phytoliths are made of silica. They are isotropic meaning like glass, a melt. Light bounces back and force to go straight through and not like quartz that is a crystal bending light in a fixed direction. They look like fragments of glass under the scope with many amazing shapes. I believe they from from soluble silica in water taken up into the plant and solidify in the veins in places where there is branching making the shapes. I have found them in roots, stock, leaves, flowers etc all parts of the plant. I'm thinking they may cause more problems than a benefit for us as I think they may form a hard to remove crust in places we don't want - but I have yet to see a deposit in burners that is traced back to phytoliths in the fuel. >> > To my knowledge, carbon from biochar remains in the soil as carbon for > much longer time - compared to carbon present in compost ( which gets > converted into CO2 ). Please correct me if I am wrong. > > Best Regards, > > > Rajan > > > _______________________________________________ > Stoves mailing list > [email protected] > http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_listserv.repp.org > http://stoves.bioenergylists.org > http://info.bioenergylists.org > > UNSUBSCRIBE HERE; > http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_listserv.repp.org > > -- Frank Shields Soil Control Lab 42 Hangar way Watsonville, CA 95076 (831) 724-5422 tel (831) 724-3188 fax [email protected] www.compostlab.com _______________________________________________ Stoves mailing list [email protected] http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_listserv.repp.org http://stoves.bioenergylists.org http://info.bioenergylists.org UNSUBSCRIBE HERE; http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/stoves_listserv.repp.org
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