{PNW-BC} Re: Is biochar being funded as a carbon capture technology?

[Terry Mock]

John,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions about possible funding sources to develop and deploy biochar technology on a commercial scale.

Tim Flannery says in his new book "NOW OR NEVER" that "Pyrolysis machines are expensive, and farms are mostly still family businesses. If farmers are ever to be able to afford these machines, they'll need to be paid approximately thirty-seven U.S. dollars per metric ton for the carbon they create..."

Where is this money going to come from? I agree with you that "out of hand subsidizing in agriculture and energy has been a colossal environmental mistake and it would likely cause real problems for biochar. We must prove a real value in biochar to society and then base our ability to develop biochar projects on that value..."

Keep up the good work,

Terry Mock
Trustee, Ocean Mountain Ranch
Executive Director, Sustainable Land Development International
www.SLDI.org


-----Original Message-----
From: pnw-b...@googlegroups.com [mailto:pnw-b...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of John
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 12:09 PM
To: PNW Biochar
Subject: {PNW-BC} Re: Is biochar being funded as a carbon capture technology?

Terry,

1. I know of no current funding of biochar as carbon capture technology. I would say the reason for this is that the biochar platform has not been fully accepted and still requires a rigorous set of protocols and methodologies --Full Life Cycle Analysis Standards-- in order to qualify for such funding...

2. The reason that it is stated under the Protocol Guiding Principles that biochar "Does not require subsidies for profit" is that (in my opinion) biochar needs to stand on its own merits and value streams. We need to prove the value of biochar production and use to society. I do not see subsidy payments as a means to achieving this, nor do I see research grants as subsidies. Further research certainly should supported with grant money. What I am talking about here --"Does not require subsidies for profit"-- is not to mean that biochar projects should not see money for carbon capture. Carbon capture is part of biochar's value stream-- we simply should not expect society to subsidize biochar projects in the same way we subsidize commodity agriculture and fossil fuels. We should prove that our projects are carbon negative and then we should expect to be payed the value of the recalcitrant carbon. Some projects should receive funding for research --relatively short term grants, not long term subsidies. The hope would be that the initial funding of certain projects would lead to actual value being attributed to biochar. In my opinion out of hand subsidizing in agriculture and energy has been a colossal environmental mistake and it would likely cause real problems for biochar. We must prove a real value in biochar to society and then base our ability to develop biochar projects on that value...



On Nov 2, 7:11 am, "Terry Mock" <tm...@sldi.org> wrote:colossal colossal
> Is biochar being funded as a carbon capture technology? If not, why?
> If so, please provide examples.
>
> Why does
> thehttp://sites.google.com/site/pnwbiochar/sustainability-protocolpage
> state under Protocol Guiding Principles that biochar "Does not require
> subsidies for profit"?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Terry Mock
> Executive Director
> Sustainable Land Development
> Internationalwww.SLDI.orghttp://blog.sldi.org/2009/03/03/beyond-the-ba
> ilout-%e2%80%a6-a-bigger-pr
> oblem%e2%80%a6-and-a-solution/
> ________________________________