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February 2010
IBI
Announces Carbon War Room Biochar Battle Launch
IBI
is pleased to announce the launch of the Biochar Battle in concert with the
Carbon War Room. Coined "Operation Black Gold", the battle plan
was developed by IBI in concert with the Carbon War Room over the past 10
month period. IBI Executive Director Debbie Reed and Chairman of the Board
Johannes Lehmann presented the Biochar Battle concept to the founders of
the Carbon War Room at their launch in June, 2009 in New York, and since
then IBI has devoted significant resources to fleshing out a battle plan to
help build a strong biochar industry in both developed and developing
country settings. The Carbon War Room recently retained a project manager
to assist in carrying out the Biochar Battle, and the Board of the Carbon
War Room recently approved the first year budget for the Operation Black
Gold.
"The biochar industry and the underlying science behind sustainable
biochar systems has grown exponentially in the past several years,"
said IBI Executive Director Debbie Reed, "yet significant resources
are needed to continue critical R&D while also developing market-based
and economic models and business plans for biochar systems, and developing
standards and classification systems to provide quality and market
assurances for biochar materials and production and utilization
systems." Also, Reed noted, "Financing for pilot and
demonstration projects at all scales is needed, together with support to
continue IBI's policy work in the international and domestic arenas to
recognize biochar as a near-term technology to address climate change
mitigation and adaptation."
IBI's objective is the global scale-up and deployment of sustainable
biochar to enhance soils and fight global warming. Sustainable biochar also
provides numerous other benefits such as boosting food security,
discouraging deforestation, and generating clean energy. To achieve this
objective, IBI is creating global awareness of sustainable biochar
systems. "We really can't afford not to pursue sustainable
biochar," said Reed.
IBI welcomes the support of the Carbon War Room to the biochar industry and
to IBI, and looks forward to a continued successful partnership to help
build a global, viable, sustainable biochar industry.
Themes
announced for 3rd International Biochar Conference, IBI 2010, Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
 The Brazil 2010 conference science
committee recently announced the 10 themes and topics for the September 12
- 16 2010 conference. IBI will be posting a formal announcement of a call
for abstracts in the next week and invites scientists, engineers, policy
analysts, policy makers, users, producers, investors, and students to
submit abstracts for consideration for oral presentations and poster
sessions. The deadline for receipt of abstracts is April 9, 2010.
Conference Themes and Topics:
1.
Biochar production and new products. Biomass sources, residues and
co-products recycling. Management of emissions, wastes, and byproducts from
biochar production.
2.
Integrated biochar systems. Design and evaluation of small and large scale
systems.
3.
Characterization of fresh and aged biochars. Physico-chemical
characterizsation of structural recalcitrance and functionalities. IBI's
biochar characterization effort.
4.
Biochar quantification in the environment.
5.
Biochar amendments to soils. Agronomic evaluations and effects on soil
carbon dynamics.
6.
Terra Preta de Índios: state of the art.
7.
Climate change mitigation value and potential.
8.
Sustainability, certification and legislation.
9.
Commercializing biochar and large scale dissemination - economic,
commercial, and industrial issues.
10.
Emissions trading and climate change policy.
A full conference website with registration options as well as an agenda,
information on travel and lodging, and the field trip will be available
online soon.
Thanks
to New Members, IBI Charter
Membership Drive a Success!
In
mid-December 2009, IBI launched an individual membership campaign
recruiting charter members to help us build the foundations of the biochar
industry. The 6-week membership campaign brought in 280 new memberships,
exceeding our expectations. IBI board and staff would like to say Thank You
to all who joined. This is a great start to our membership program. If you
have not yet joined IBI, we invite you to do so. Click on
this link to go to the IBI membership signup page.
Practitioner
Profile: Biochar Stoves in Central America
 Good coffee and great biochar are a
match made in heaven. Especially since one product of that match is a
cleaner cook stove for migrant coffee pickers who often have only open
fires for cooking.
The
match started in Seattle,
a global center of coffee consumption and home of the Seattle Biochar
Working Group. SeaChar (as it is known) is barely one year old, but this
biochar regional group has a huge stack of accomplishments already. Last
summer, SeaChar brought in TLUD (Top-Lit UpDraft) gasifier stove expert
Paul Anderson to give a stove making workshop. That inspired SeaChar member
Scott Eaton to pack his tin snips and head down to Nicaragua
to start building stoves for people who were still cooking over smoky open
fires.
SeaChar
co-founder and metal sculptor Art Donnelly was also bitten by the TLUD bug.
He began making elegant TLUD stoves with artistic scrolls and whimsical
touches like an air controller made from an Altoids mint can. Showing off
his stoves at a Seattle garden fair, Art met
Arturo Segura, owner of Sol Colibri, a sustainable, shade grown, organic
coffee farm in the Santos region of Costa Rica.
Segura is also a direct trade sales rep
for La Alianza, an alliance of organic producers of coffee, cocoa, and
bananas. Arturo Segura was interested in making biochar on his coffee
plantation and he also wanted to help the migrant coffee pickers from Panama and Nicaragua who live with very
little resources in difficult conditions during the picking season. Poor
indoor air quality associated with cooking on an open fire is a major cause
of respiratory disease.
In January, Art traveled to Arturo's farm in Santa
Maria de Dota,
Costa Rica.
What followed was an intense two weeks of interviews with pickers,
demonstrations for farmers, and scrounging the countryside to see what
stove making materials were available locally. The result was another
elegant Art Donnelly design - the Estufa Finca (farm stove).
To
read the remainder of this story, please see:
http://www.biochar-international.org/profiles/centralamerica/stoves.
Photo: The Estufa Finca cooks dinner.
Courtesy of Art Donnelly.
Updates on Biochar Work in Haiti
 You may have heard stories about
deliveries of rice and other food commodities in Haiti that are unusable because
people do not have stoves or fuel to cook with. Nathaniel Mulcahy, CEO of WorldStove
LLC, has set up a workshop in Haiti and is making clean,
fuel flexible, pyrolytic cook stoves that also happen to make biochar -
potentially a boon for Haiti's eroded hills and fields. Information about
Mulcahy's progress is hard to come by, as he has virtually no email access.
Nathaniel tries to keep up communication via mobile phone and twitter
messages at http://twitter.com/worldstove.
You can also find updates and pictures of his work at the WorldStove
Facebook page.
If you would like to help the WorldStove effort, you can make a donation
that will go directly to Nathaniel's work through the International
Lifeline Fund.
And
here is some news from the Biochar Haiti subgroup of the Biochar Offsets
Group on LinkedIn by Victoria Kamsler, Chair, Biochar Offsets Group:
"As you may have heard, just two days after the earthquake struck,
Nathaniel Mulcahy of WorldStove was on the ground and hard at work making
and distributing stoves in Haiti.
Dave Sleuwaegen of Meldynique Solar was already there; they had projects in
Haiti and the Dominican Republic
well underway when the quake struck, and their team has been in meetings
with President Clinton and the Haitian Minister of the Interior. Another
member, expat Vickens Moscova, has organized a fundraising dinner cruise
out of New York
on February 27. The cruise will benefit Dave's Biofuel and Food project for
Haiti.
"Recently, a remarkable thing happened in our Biochar Haiti subgroup.
Nathaniel has been down in Haiti
with member Vijay Jahangir, Director at International Lifeline Fund trying
every way possible to get the large donation of stoves (in Minnesota) and wood pellets (on the panhandle in Florida) down to Haiti where they are waiting
for them. Member Hoi Trinh of ILF has been working the phones in DC to get
this moving, but like everything else on the way to Haiti, the
stoves were stuck. Finally, Vickens Moscova hooked us up with a contact at International
Relief and Development who offered to ship everything to Haiti for
us. By the time you read this, the stoves may be on their way.
Photo: WorldStove institutional cook stove
in Haiti.
Courtesy of Nathaniel Mulcahy.
ETHOS
Stoves Conference Report
by Kelpie Wilson, IBI Communications
Editor
 You may have read about the
"stovers" in the New Yorker last December in Burkhard Bilger's
article, "Hearth Surgery". This dedicated group, intent on
providing clean cook stoves to the world, met at their annual conference
January 29 - 30 in Kirkland,
Washington. The conference is
organized by the ETHOS group and Dr. Mark Bryden at Iowa State
University. This was
my second year in attendance and the stovers are slightly less quirky but
even more wonderful than Bilger's portrayal of them.
It has been a very successful year for the stove community. Two companies,
Envirofit and StoveTec, are now manufacturing and distributing hundreds of
thousands of the clean-burning rocket stoves. Mass production of a
desirable and affordable stove for developing countries is a major
milestone. However, the mood at the conference was not of self
congratulation but of deeper probing into the problem of access to clean
stoves. After all, the need for stoves is huge; 2 billion people are still
cooking over open wood fires. Even a million stoves is just a drop in the
bucket.
There was much discussion of the history of stove projects: how they have
largely failed to meet objectives and how the objectives have multiplied
over time as new requirements are added to the original goal of reducing
fuel wood use. Stoves are now required (at a minimum) to slow
deforestation, provide cleaner indoor air, and reduce greenhouse gases. New
objectives for cook stoves include generating electricity with Thermo
Electric Generators (TEGs are like a solar photovoltaic chip that runs on
heat) and producing biochar for use in soil. To read the remainder of the
story, please see:
http://www.biochar-international.org/ethos/2010.
Photo: Dr. Paul Anderson at tin can TLUD
alley. Courtesy of Kelpie Wilson.
Malaysia Biochar 2010: 1 Day
Workshop March 25th
Following
up on the success of the "Biochar Malaysia Workshop 2009",
coupled with the steadily growing interest in this emerging field, the University of Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) is pleased to
announce another opportunity to share knowledge and network. UniKL MICET is
organizing a 1-day biochar workshop on the 25th of March and cordially invites
everyone to attend.
The 1 day workshop will cover many aspects of biochar, including
production, characterization, and application. The event will feature
speakers Dr R.T. Bachmann of the University
of KL, Dr Gerard Cornelissen of
the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and the Swedish Institute of
Applied Environmental Research (ITM), Dr Sarah E. Hale, a postdoctoral
researcher at NGI (Norway),
and Trevor Richards an environmental services consultant and contractor
based in Malaysia.
For more information, an agenda, and to register, please see: http://www.biochar-international.org/malaysia/2010.
Congo Basin Biosphere Bio-Carbon
Forum April 2010
Pro-Natura,
an NGO that has worked extensively in Africa with biochar projects, is
partnering with UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) to organize
a Congo Basin Biosphere Bio-Carbon Forum in Brazzaville,
Republic of Congo April 21 - 22, 2010. The forum
will bring together regional stakeholders to discuss concrete steps toward
strengthening the biosphere reserve network in Central Africa and using Congo Basin biosphere reserves as pilot
sites to combat deforestation, protect biodiversity, and promote
sustainable development through bio-carbon modalities. It will also include
a training session for partners in bio-carbon opportunities, project
design, and management.
The MAB Programme's Africa Bio-Carbon (ABC) Initiative seeks to develop
strategies and models for bio-carbon sequestration projects in biosphere
reserves in Africa through modalities such
as REDD+, afforestation/reforestation, biochar, and alternative energies.
For more information on the program, please see:
http://www.biochar-international.org/congo/2010.
IBI featured Pro-Natura's work with green charcoal in Senegal in
March 2009. For more information, see: http://www.biochar-international.org/Pronatura.
IBI
Website Highlight: IBI Publications
Do
you ever find the need for some short biochar handouts? Some longer
research summaries on a specific topic such as biochar's impact on soil
carbon losses or soil moisture? Or information papers such as the carbon
offset potential of biochar? Look no further than the IBI Publications page
on the website. You are welcome to download and print materials as needed
for use in conferences or meetings, as information when talking with
elected officials, or for use as teaching materials. IBI is continually
adding to these materials, so check back for new items.
http://www.biochar-international.org/publications/IBI.
Regional
Biochar Group Updates
To
see more information on regional groups, please see IBI's website at:
http://www.biochar-international.org/network/communities. This month
includes updates from the North East Biochar Association (US), Biochar
Hawaii (US), and The Seattle Biochar Working Group (SeaChar) (US).
Northeast Biochar Association (United States)
The Northeast Biochar Association, the new group conceived at the Northeast
Biochar Symposium at Amherst
Massachusetts last November,
has announced that it is formally organized and incorporated, and is
seeking members. The 13 founding Board members represent most of the New
England States, New York, and Pennsylvania.
NEBA has adopted as its mission "To advance the ethical use and
creation of biochar".
In pursuit of this mission, NEBA President and Board Chair Peter Hirst has
announced three new initiatives. First, NEBA is sponsoring the Northeast
Research and Development Initiative, led by Dr. Hugh McLaughlin, a group of
biochar researchers and innovators who also joined forces at Amherst to develop
biochar technology, applications and standards. Second, NEBA's first public
appearance will be at the Ecological Landscaping Association Conference on
February 25 at the MassMutual center in Springfield Mass.
This Conference will feature a number of biochar exhibits, including an IBI
booth and a display of the newest Mobile Adam Retort.
The Association's third planned activity will be a three-day presentation,
training and demonstration program at SolarFest in Tinmouth Vermont, July 16,
17, and 18. At SolarFest, NEBA will sponsor an information and sales booth,
several tent presentations, and a continuous series of demonstrations and
hands-on workshops, including pyrotechnics, at the outdoor Biochar Theater
set up especially for the purpose. For more information, please see: http://www.biochar-international.org/regional/northeast.
Biochar Hawaii
(United States)
 A research grant was awarded to a group
in Hawaii
in September 2009 to study the effects of biochar on local agriculture. The
funding was provided by Big Island Resource Conservation and Development
(BIRC&D) a local non-profit funded by the USDA with the help of Senator
Daniel Inouye. The grant titled: "Charcoal amended compost: plant
growth responses in local agricultural systems" was awarded to Josiah
Hunt and has helped fund the production of 20 cubic yards of finished
compost containing approximately 30% charcoal (biochar) which is now being
delivered to participating agricultural businesses. A more detailed write
up on this project will come in June including physical, chemical, and
biological aspects of compost and plant growth responses from more than ten
agricultural systems.
Biochar
used in the grant project was produced by Josiah Hunt. Dry lumber scraps
were used as feedstock and combusted in a well managed fire. In the absence
of more sustainable production options, this crude method has served well
in producing relatively large quantities of biochar to conduct research and
supply local demand. However, the project has procured plans and materials
to build an enclosed unit to achieve a cleaner more controlled combustion,
which should improve the efficiency of biochar production and reduce
emissions involved. Analysis of the biochar by Hugh Mclaughlin and detailed
pictures of production can be seen on the Biochar-Hawaii group page at
http://groups.google.com/group/biochar-hawaii?hl=en.
Photo: Biochar compost application at
Loeffler farms, courtesy of Josiah Hunt
The Seattle Biochar Working Group (SeaChar, United States)
SeaChar will be working at the South
Seattle Community
College Carbon
Garden to welcome
spring--on Saturday the 13th of March starting at 10am we will have a
garden chore and stove demo day and at 1pm we will have our first meeting
of 2010. As any of you who have followed our activities this winter know:
SeaChar has some exciting biochar related projects on tap for the coming
year. The agenda for the meeting will be as follows:
--Forming a 2010 biochar test plot committee (first order of business:
picking the spring crop)
--An update on the Adam-retort building project (scheduled build:
April-May)
--An overview of the recently announced SeaChar/Sol Colibri: Estufa Finca
Central America stove project and how you can get involved.
SeaChar will also be tendering a freshly revised SeaChar Mission statement
and matching goals and strategic for our discussion and possible approval.
Thanks to the good work of our volunteer Vivian Scott and the far sighted
generosity of the curators of Bellevue's
Open Satellite Gallery http://www.opensatellite.org,
we will also have several hundred, small, wild native strawberry starts to
plant at the plot. These are from the recently closed Meiro Kolzumi installation:
"The Corner of Sweet and Bitter". This will be our group's first
contribution to the Campus Crops Initiative, recently announced by the
S&A Campus Sustainability Task Force http://www.southgoesgreen.blogspot.com;
fitting support for Seattle's
"Year of Urban Agriculture". For more information and directions
to the garden, see: http://www.biochar-international.org/regional/seattle.
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