USA

Art Donnelly, September 2010

SeaChar.org has been working with South Seattle Community College in testing the effectiveness of Biochar in outdoor Corn test plots. You can see the full story in article by the Seattle Herald:
http://www.westseattleherald.com/2010/09/30/features/seachar-harvests-corn-part-citizen-science-pr

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Hugh McLaughlin, July 2010

This is a nice series on growing your food "close to home" which also features Hugh Mclaughlin giving a nice presentation about making biochar and incorporating it into your garden.

Grow More Closer to Home, produced by Barry Hollister

For the complete list of shows, go to the Berkshire Harmonly YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BerkshireHarmony

See the Making Biochar video here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BerkshireHarmony#p/u/1/COPqvVH7jiw

bridgemedia | Nike - Sportswear - Nike Tracksuits, Jackets & Trainers

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Josiah Hunt, July, 2010

Josiah has a background in Agroecology and Ecology, and he has been working both in landscaping, and in making Biochar. See his web site for more details http://www.landscapeecology-hawaii.com/

His work is also noted in the July-August 2010 Audubon Magazine Field Notes: Please Smoke

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USBI, June 2010

US Focused Biochar Report: Assessment of Biochar's Benefit's for the USA

US Focused Biochar Report: Assessment of Biochar's Benefit's for the USA

From the Forward
Biochar is a charcoal carbon product derived from biomass that can enhance soils, sequester or store carbon, and provide useable energy. Lessons learned from Terra Preta (an ancient human-created soil type in Brazil) suggest that biochar will have carbon storage permanence in the soil for many hundreds and possibly thousands of years.2 Biochar is produced by subjecting biomass to elevated temperature, extracting energy in the form of heat, gases, and/or oils while retaining a large portion of the original biomass carbon in a solid form (charcoal or char). The relative percentage of solid carbon retained vs. the amount and form of energy produced is a function of the process conditions. The resultant solid carbon becomes biochar when it is returned to soils with the potential to enhance mineral and nutrient availability and water holding capacity, while sequestering carbon for on the order of a thousand years...

Well designed renewable energy (RE) technologies such as energy efficiency, solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass driven projects are needed to ensure a diverse portfolio of sustainable solutions to meet our energy demands. These RE technologies offer opportunities to produce energy that is carbon neutral, whereas biochar offers the potentialto be carbon negative. Biochar as a method of carbon management is also widely scalable in size and flexible across soil type and usage making biochar deployable worldwide. ...
The following report addresses six critical topics:

  1. Agroforestry
  2. Energy Co-Products
  3. Reclamation
  4. Sustainability
  5. Green House Gas Accounting
  6. Green House Gas Markets

Each of these areas will continue to develop over time with research and application but the information presented in this report serves as a resource for those becoming involved or continuing to be involved in the exciting development of biochar. USBI encourages readers to consider how they might add to this body of biochar knowledge and contact us for suggestions and contributions

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Ben Driscoe, June, 2010

I gave a 40-minute talk on biochar recently to the Kona Coffee Grower's Association (here on the island of Hawai'i).

10 minutes of it got uploaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42gr_1whjc8

It covers the basic carbon cycle, biochar's agricultural use, interaction with nutrients and microbes, reversing fossil fuel use, appropriate sources of renewable biomass.. my sources of information are, basically, this mailing list, and my own experiences making and using biochar.

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Jock Gill, Northeast Biochar Assn, April, 2010

Vermont Public Radio Coverage
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/87888/

A new biochar story in Seven Days, a Vermont newspaper:
Shelburne Farms Experiments with "Biochar" to Clean Water and Revitalize Soil
http://www.7dvt.com/2010shelburne-farms-experiments-biochar-clean-water-...

And:
Television coverage of Biochar Demonstration at Shelbourne Farms, Vermont

http://www.wcax.com/global/video.asp?clipId=4691863&autostart=true

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Spring Grower Gathering, David Yarrow April, 2010

Spring Grower Gathering

How to Make and Use Biochar

Sponsored by Transition Town Great Barrington (MA)

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Gasifier Charcoal as a Substitute for Vermiculite in Container Growing Media
Tom Miles, August 22, 2009
P Pine Seedlings in 25% BiocharP Pine Seedlings in 25% Biochar
Our second trial of biochar as a substitute for vermiculite in container media for growing tree seedling has proved successful. These tests are by a private nursery to determine if charcoal from a gasifier heating system can be used in container growing media.

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