A Carbon-Negative Fuel

A Carbon-Negative Fuel
Jeremy Faludi
October 16, 2007 8:07 AM




"Impossible!" you say. "Even wind and solar have carbon emissions from their manufacturing, and biofuels are carbon neutral at best. How can a fuel be carbon negative?" But listen to people working on gasification and terra preta, and you'll have something new to think about.

We've mentioned terra preta before: it's a human-made soil or fertilizer. "Three times richer in nitrogen and phosphorous, and twenty times the carbon of normal soils, terra preta is the legacy of ancient Amazonians who predate Western civilization." Although we don't know how it was made back then, we do know how to make it now: burn biomass (preferably agricultural waste) in a special way that pyrolisizes it, breaking down long hydrocarbon chains like cellulose into shorter, simpler molecules. These simpler molecules are more easily broken down by microbes and plants as food, and bond more easily with key nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. This is what makes terra preta such good fertilizer. Because terra preta locks so much carbon in the soil, it's also a form of carbon sequestration that doesn't involve bizarre heroics like pumping CO2 down old mine shafts. What's more, it may reduce other greenhouse gases as well as water pollution: according to Biopact, a network that promotes biofuels and biomass energy,

Char-amended soils have shown 50 - 80 percent reductions in nitrous oxide emissions and reduced runoff of phosphorus into surface waters and leaching of nitrogen into groundwater. As a soil amendment, biochar significantly increases the efficiency of and reduces the need for traditional chemical fertilizers, while greatly enhancing crop yields. Experiments have shown yields for some crops can be doubled and even tripled.
As it happens, the process of burning/pyrolisizing agricultural char is also a way to produce energy. MIT Professor Amy Smith, a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur "genius award," gave a TED Conference talk in 2006 on using agricultural char as fuel in developing countries. It works because the chemical reactions that break down the long hydrocarbon chains also give off hydrogen gas, methane, and various other burnable fuel gases. (As well as tars and non-useful gases like CO2.) This is gasification. The fuel gas can be burned for heat, or if it's pretty clean (that is, if the tar levels are low), it can be used to power an engine.

I was first introduced to gasification by Jim Mason at Foo Camp, and helped a bit with his Burning Man project The Mechabolic. It's an art project designed to use gasification for motive power, electrical power, and gas-powered lights and heat, all at the same time. The Mechabolic is intended to run off of coffee grounds, or whatever ground-up dried-out biomass can be fed to it, with its own "mouth" parts to chop up and pulverize incoming material well enough to be fed into its gasifier tank. Jim points out that gasification is not new -- in fact, according to Professor Tom Jeffries at the University of Wisconsin, "Over a million wood gasifiers were used to power cars and trucks during World War II," when Europeans often lacked access to oil.

There are many kinds of gasifiers, each with advantages and disadvantages for different conditions and input materials. Babcock & Wilson Vølund have a helpful diagram (see below) with explanatory text that shows one kind in detail. The locations and sizes of the different zones will be different for other designs, but the sorts of chemistry described occur in all gasifiers.



Not all gasification is green. The coal industry routinely uses gasification all around the world to create syngas (synthetic gas) as a petroleum substitute of chemical feedstock. However, gasification plus terra preta has potential to be revolutionary.


I can't promise that using gasification for energy and using the resulting char as terra preta fertilizer will be a carbon negative fuel, because I haven't seen a credible lifecycle analysis of it. (If anyone has, please post it to the comments.) But it's quite plausible. Consider that it takes a certain amount of CO2 to grow a crop, such as corn. You harvest the crop and sell the food part, which leaves you with all the agricultural waste. Instead of burning it in the open air, or landfilling it (which is what's done today -- basically topsoil mining), you gasify it. You then burn the fuel gas you get from gasification, putting some fraction of that CO2 into the air; the agri-char (terra preta) that you're left with contains the rest of the embodied CO2 which the crops sucked up while growing. There's more carbon here than there was in the fuel gas. You spread the terra preta on the fields as fertilizer to grow more crops, and repeat the cycle -- and with each repeat, you pull more carbon back into the soil than you burn, resulting in a carbon negative fuel as well as crops fertilized with fewer petrochemicals. It's a double win.


Energy Policy and Farm Policy

Gasification and terra preta as a means of sequestering carbon is far cheaper than injecting CO2 into mine shafts, but it's still not cheap. Biopact calculated that "under a basic scenario sequestering biochar from biofuels produced by pyrolysis would be competitive when carbon prices reach US$37 (carbon currently fetches €21.55 on the European market, that is $30.5, and prices are expected to increase strongly in the near future)."

However, "[T]he great advantage of biochar is the fact that the technique can be applied world-wide on agricultual soils, and even by rural communities in the developing world because it is relatively low tech." In fact, the guts of Jim Mason's Mechabolic was mostly built with scrap steel tanks and whatever miscellaneous piping was handy, with nothing but a couple welders and some power tools -- nothing a well-equipped farm mechanic wouldn't have.

One of the 2007 Ashden Awards went to a company in India making gasification / char systems in Kerala:

BIOTECH has succeeded in tackling the problem of the dumping of food waste in the streets of Kerala through the installation of biogas plants that use the food waste to produce gas for cooking and, in some cases, electricity for lighting; the residue serves as a fertiliser. To date BIOTECH has built and installed an impressive 12,000 domestic plants (160 of which also use human waste from latrines to avoid contamination of ground water), 220 institutional plants and 17 municipal plants that use waste from markets to power generators. The disposal of food waste and the production of clean energy are not the only benefits of BIOTECH's scheme. The plants also replace the equivalent of about 3.7 tonnes/day of LPG and diesel which in turn results in the saving of about 3,700 tonnes/year of CO2, with further savings from the reduction in methane production as a result of the uncontrolled decomposition of waste, and from the transport of LPG.
While still under the radar of most policymakers, gasification and terra preta are starting to appear on the scene. In the US this year, Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) is promoting legislation that would give subsidies of up to $10,000 for farmers who set up gasifiers and use the terra preta on their fields, and $100 million in related research grants. Biopact has the full text of the bill online, and Biochar International has a summary of the bill.

Image: The Mechabolic at Burning Man. Credit: Michael P Byrne

IRV in the National Spotlight

IRV in the National Spotlight
National media takes note as more cities to use instant runoff voting
Instant runoff voting keeps making big strides. FairVote chairman and former presidential candidate John Anderson put IRV on the national radar with an op-ed that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, the Chicago Sun Times, and other major papers.
In North Carolina, Cary held its first IRV election on October 9, and a recent survey showed an overwhelming preference for IRV, and 96 percent said it was easy to understand. The North Carolina Center for Voter Education produced an excellent video explaining IRV, and it was featured in a Raleigh newscast. Hendersonville (NC) will use IRV for the first time on November 6, the city council of Santa Fe (NM) gave unanimous preliminary approval to place IRV on the March 2008 ballot, and the city of Urbana (IL) is considering the same for a February 2008 ballot.

FairVote to Host Major Pro-Democracy Conference

Join FairVote for Claim Democracy Conference & 15th Anniversary Gala
Get informed, get involved, and get connected!
With the White House up for grabs in 2008, America needs better and fairer elections more than ever, so join leading reformers from around the nation for CLAIM DEMOCRACY 2007, Nov. 9th to 11th in Washington, DC. This will be the largest gathering in years of national, state and local leaders working to meet the challenges of running fair elections, protecting voting rights and winning reform.
It’s your chance to connect with activists and luminaries, participate in innovative, hands-on workshops, and hear from headliners including MeetUp.com CEO Scott Heiferman, former presidential candidate John Anderson, Grover Norquist, the New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg, the LCCR's Wade Henderson, D.C. city council chairman Vincent Gray, the Brennan Center’s Deborah Goldberg, former EAC commissioner Ray Martinez, former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, and many more!

FairVote will also hold its 15th Anniversary Gala at Union Station on Saturday, November 10th, where we will honor chairman John Anderson and award the winner of FairVote’s Upgrade Democracy Video Contest!

Visit ClaimDemocracy.com for complete conference schedule and details. Also see fairvote.org/gala for information on our 15th anniversary gala!


[ Listen to Our Conference Radio PSA ]

Bioneers Evolve and Gain Momentum

Published on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
Bioneers Evolve and Gain Momentum
by Shepherd Bliss
For nearly two decades now the Bioneers Conference has been gaining momentum and evolving from the margins toward the main stage. Bioneers is a term used by its founders Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons to describe innovative social and scientific visionaries whose work is grounded in practice and solution-oriented.

The annual gatherings have historically focused on environmental concerns such as food and agriculture, green businesses, eco-building, restoration, water and forests. This year’s conference expanded to include more on related issues, such as war, urban poverty, violence against women, and human rights in Burma and elsewhere.

The 18th Annual Bioneers Conference drew some 3000 people to a large auditorium and sprawling campus with tents and exhibits in the San Francisco Bay Area. Another 10,000 attended satellite conferences around the United States in Alaska, Montana, Iowa, Texas, Massachusetts, Michigan and elsewhere. The morning plenary sessions were beamed to 18 places; afternoon workshops were produced locally. The organization, collaboration, and partnerships that make such networking possible are hallmarks of Bioneers.

Bioneers was covered last year by the New York Times and this year made it to the big screen in Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary “The 11th Hour.” The film’s co-directors, Leslie Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, attended the 2004 Bioneers, where they filmed about 30 interviews. Over half the people interviewed in “The 11th Hour” came directly from Bioneers. The film’s co-directors facilitated a workshop at this year’s conference on “Mainstreaming Hope through Popular Media.”

The Bioneers tent is getting larger and more inclusive. However, some still criticize it as being elitist and “too chic.” Others describe it as New Age and “too California.”

Among the various tracks this year were the following: food and farming, youth leadership, the arts, restoring ecosystems, social activism, independent media, and women’s leadership.

Pulitzer prize-winning author Alice Walker, the founder of “green chemistry” Yale professor Paul Anastas, and “Whole Earth Catalogue” founder Stewart Brand presented. Political activists such as Global Exchange’s Medea Benjamin and Kevin Danaher and Moveon.org’s Ilyse Hogue, and Native American Winona LaDuke also spoke.

The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers opened and closed the conference. They came from throughout the Americas, the Himalayan mountains, and Africa. The Grandmothers invited all to join them each afternoon to sit together in the ancient form of a Council, “Come in the spirit of inquiry.” They offered wisdom from the Earth’s first peoples regarding peace and healing. On the final day they all appeared together on the main stage and spoke briefly in their native languages, which was an uplifting experience that seemed to unite the participants.

One of the Grandmothers’ key messages was about the element of water. They implored us to reflect upon our relationship with water and how each of us can take action for the healing of our water systems. They asked us to imagine a day without safe water. One week. One year. Indigenous peoples globally are observing that the world’s oceans, aquifers and watersheds are in acute distress and that this water is our life-blood.

On the gathering’s second morning Evon Peter was scheduled to talk. The Marin Center’s large stage quietly filled with almost three dozen native persons of all ages. They sat down together on the floor. One by one–in their distinct languages–each indigenous person briefly introduced themselves, their tribe and their home, sometimes with an English translation. This simple coming-together created a powerful context. Within that collectivity and after his wife and young daughter in her lap had spoken, the former chief welcomed the audience as guests to “our homeland.”

“Some of my husband’s words may seem harsh,” Peter’s wife warned, “but he is not a harsh man.” In a calm, clear, and determined voice, he did indeed remind those gathered of the occupation of this land by European people.

“We indigenous people are still here,” he added. “I’m happy to be sitting with all of you. Our songs, prayers, and words are our practice of who we are in our homeland of California. We welcome you.” Peter spoke of the “imbalances in the world,” noting, “There is an awakening and an opening up in the world today.”

“Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler spoke next on the heart-opening Oct. 20 morning. She condemned the continuing violence against women that she has witnessed in travels to some of the 119 countries where her play, translated into 45 languages, has been performed in the last decade.

“Are there any vaginas in the house?” she asked, which received a roaring affirmative answer. “Are there any vagina-friendly men here?” produced a loud echo.

“We have to be bolder now, if we are going to save humanity on this planet,” Ensler told a small group the day before her public talk. She was speaking primarily to teenage girls from New York City. When one explained that she was from the Congo, Ensler replied that she had recently returned from that “heart of Africa.” She described the most horrible violence against women that she has ever experienced, which brought tears to the girls’ eyes, who leaned on each other for support. “We must turn pain into power,” Ensler asserted. This reporter later saw those same girls walking together with strength. A fierce public speaker, Ensler listened and interacted sensitively with these young females.

This year’s conference had more emphasis on the pain and suffering in the world than previous gatherings. One reason the Bioneers is evolving is because the Earth itself seems to be having greater problems. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking more lives and being more destructive, with the U.S. escalating its threats against Iran. The global climate is getting more chaotic. Studies reveal that the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing. Various people at Bioneers indicated that the planet seems to be at a “tipping point” that typically proceeds great change.

The founder of Sustainable South Bronx, Majora Carter, spoke of their work to restore the Bronx River in an impoverished community. “Environmental justice is a civil rights issue in the 21st century,” Carter asserted. “We must green the ghetto.”

Another African American, Van Jones, talked about the need for “green collar jobs” for the urban poor. Though the topics were usually serious, they were often presented with a sense of humor and play that evoked frequent laughter. Jones, for example, poked fun at the Prius-driving audience while he advocated the needs of the urban poor. “As this movement now moves from the margin to the center,” Jones asked, “Who are we going to take with us and who are we going to leave behind?”

“Van Jones rocked the house,” someone wrote on the Bioneers blog. “He’s an unequivocal juggernaut…’I feel like I was listening to Martin Luther King,’ a woman said afterward…Jones has become the inner city conscience of the environmental movement.” He was one of many speakers to receive a standing ovation.

Among the words used in interviews to describe the Bioneers were the following: hopeful, exhilarating, passionate, overwhelming, graceful, magical, innovative, exciting, educational, life-changing, rejuvenating, exhausting, energizing, imaginative, multi-dimensional, diverse, transformative, insightful, respectful, catalytic, and regenerating.

“I was very inspired by Judy Wicks of the White Dog Café,” writes Ellen Bicheler of Sonoma County, California, on that region’s GreenAction email list. “Judy uses good food to lure customers into social activism, pays all her employees a fair wage and benefits, and makes special arrangements with local farmers for most of her food.”

In his talk on “Modern War’s Devastation” psychotherapist and author Edward Tick asked all the military veterans to stand and be welcomed home. His presentation was one of the most emotional and controversial, exposing the inner conflict that some members of the progressive community experience when asked to support work with damaged veterans even though they reject war.

Ensler and Tick were among the panelists at a workshop on “Healing the Trauma of Social Violence and War.” Tick asserted, “Our common wounds can bring us together. The worse thing we can do is to cover up our wounds.” Ensler added, “Wounds are openings, like wombs. A wound can open the door and make you permeable. The more willing we are to go into the wound the more we can heal.”

The national group Farms Not Arms hosted an evening reception with food from the Marin Farmers Market. This group of farmers and anti-war activists seeks to find jobs for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans on farms, where they can work and find healing.

In addition to the many scheduled speakers, other interesting people abounded. Col. Ann Wright (retired), a former Army officer and U.S. diplomat, resigned to protest the Afghanistan War. Her book “Dissent: Voices of Conscience” was scheduled to be published by the time of the conference, but has been held up by State Department censors. Its pre-publication cover describes its content as “government insiders speak out against the war in Iraq.” Col. Wright spoke informally with people this year and at a previous Bioneers and at a reception hosted by the women’s group CODEPINK: Women’s Group for Peace. One of the gathering’s most important aspects is what happens around the sides, where new and old friends meet, network and create community.

Absent from this year’s gathering–as well as from previous conferences–was a workshop on the impact of the lessening supply of oil and the simultaneous increasing demands for it to fuel industrial societies. The only plenary speaker that this reporter heard who mentioned this crisis, often described as Peak Oil, was Native American Winona LaDuke. One participant described this as a “blind spot” to Bioneers.

“I experienced deep feelings of awe and gratitude for the amazing quality of the teachings, performances, music, art and countless personal interaction al this sublime event,” photographer Scott Hess of Petaluma, California commented online. “My soul was stirred to the very core.”

“I experienced great joy in being at a gathering where all levels of transformation are recognized,” commented Zanette Johnson. She is of mixed European/African American/Native American ancestry and is finishing her doctoral studies at Stanford University. “The transformation we are envisioning will take more than just the rebuilding of infrastructures for sustainability. To create a truly viable future, there must be inner transformation as well–an examination and repair of the deep unconscious ideas that have led us to this state of imbalance. I love the way that Bioneers includes the spiritual, emotional, and social elements in the conversation as well as the technical aspects of this essential visionary work.” The youth presence and clarity at Bioneers was one of its most inspiring elements.

More than just an annual conference, Bioneers publishes books and provides DVDs of its plenary speeches. It hosts a radio series and provides a variety of other services and tools.

Many people return from Bioneers all fired up. Here is how one, Canadian Carolyne Stayton responded a couple of days later, “It is a time for courage; a time to go beyond fear. It is a scary time: Witnessing the death of a planet. Pull the emergency brake! I am scared of sea level rise, of lack of drinking water, of toxic oceans and catastrophic storms, of drought and wildfires, cessation of ocean currents, a modern ice age, extinction of species.”

Stayton added, “But most of all I am afraid of the political chill, the very cold war I feel in the United States. The cold war waged on its homeland; the cold, calculated removal of rights couched in patriot acts, the manipulation of our votes, insidiousness of surveillance, the intimidation of dissenters through bullying, scandals and tazers.”

“My mouth is now open,” Stayton notes. “I also have a pen in my hand. My feet carry me through my fear. I am going forward to what I fear most: To the treasonous take-over of this land, to the fascist up-currents that place Blackwater mercenaries in Los Angeles, use torture, and keep lists of their critics to effectively disable them from crossing borders. To this land that I have come to love so deeply and its people who have become my family: You are being imprisoned and soon the bars will become visible!”

One of the best-received speakers at last year’s gathering was Paul Hawken, who referred to “the largest movement in the world,” described in his recent book “Blessed Unrest.” This year his co-workers distributed postcards promoting a free international community directory at www.WiserEarth.org. It is described as a “network forum of organizations and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights, and more.” Wiser Earth activist Camilla Burg added, “We hope to keep the conversation going long after the participants have gone home.”

Next year’s Bioneers is scheduled for the same time, same place-Oct. 18-20 at the Marin Center in San Rafael. This year was more international that before and founder Ausubel indicated that next year will be even more international. Information at www.bioneers.org.

Shepherd Bliss, sbliss@hawaii.edu, currently teaches at Sonoma State University and has owned the organic Kokopelli Farm for the last 15 years. He has contributed to over 20 books, most recently to “Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace,” www.vowvop.org.

Indigenous People Make Best Forest Custodians

Indigenous People Make Best Forest Custodians
By Marwaan Macan-Markar


CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Oct 18 (IPS) - The millions of indigenous people living across Asia and the Pacific are finally gaining recognition for the key role the play in forest conservation.

This shift has been a feature of a major conference being held here this week to shape forest management policies in this region for the next 20 years. Activists championing the cause of local communities welcome this sea change, given that forests have been sacred to these people and central to their identity.

‘’Indigenous people have a sacred relationship with forest lands. Societies have to work with them in making plans about forests,’’ says Peter Walpole, executive director of the Asia Forest Network, a regional non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Tagbilaran City, Philippines. ‘’Empowering indigenous people is essential to help manage forests.’’

‘’If you want to protect the forests you have to begin by dealing with them,’’ he explained in an interview. ‘’You cannot walk over them as has been always the case. These communities were there much before forests were declared as protected areas.’’

Those advocating this view hope that the emerging trend will help to lift the indigenous communities out of poverty, since they live on the margins of society and are often at the bottom all social and economic indicators. Many governments in the region have refused to give indigenous people citizenship, consequently doubling their burden to lead a secure life, say researchers studying forestry policies.

Currently, there are between 210 and 260 million indigenous people living in Asia and the Pacific, according to United Nations figures. Yet, only a few countries -- among them India -- have legislated to address the plight of this dispossessed group. In December 2006, New Delhi introduced new laws to address the concerns of communities living in the tribal belt in the centre of the South Asian sub-continent.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the hosts of the meeting in the northern Thai city, the new emphasis on indigenous communities reflects the broadening of the global agenda to respond to forest management and the crisis of deforestation. ‘’A decade ago, policy making was guided by a narrow and conventional approach. But that has to change given the range of pressures placed on forests,’’ says C.T.S. Nair, chief economist in the forestry department of the United Nations body.

The need for such a comprehensive response will require policy makers to understand the link between indigenous people and the forests they live in and around in its broadest terms, Nair told IPS. ‘’One the one hand, we want to know what countries are doing about their indigenous people. But we are also saying that just empowering them is not enough; they have to benefit from the change.’’

To achieve that, the FAO is endorsing the calls for local institutions to be built to support the indigenous groups. ‘’They need stable and reliable structures to protect them from the rapid change impacting the forestry sector due to globalisation,’’ says Nair.

This week’s conference, from Oct. 16-18, has attracted 250 participants from 39 countries. It is being held under the theme, ‘The Future of Forests in Asia and the Pacific Outlook for 2020'. It comes nearly a decade after the first Asia-Pacific outlook study, in 1998.

The new tone for a broader agenda in grappling with forestry-related issues has been shaped by the events and debates that have unfolded since that 1998 study. The threats and new pressures on forests have ranged from deforestation and forest degradation to climate change, the expanding trade in timber and the role of forests in tourism.

Currently, the world’s forest cover is estimated at 3.9 billion hectares, or some 30 percent of the planet’s land area. Of that, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for some 700 million ha.

‘’How countries manage their forests is increasingly becoming a matter of international concern on account of the wide ranging impacts of deforestation and forest degradation have on climate and water resources,’’ Jagmohan Maini, former coordinator of the United Nations Forum on Forests, said in his keynote address to the conference.

According to Jan Heino, head of the FAO’s forestry division, the trade in forest products have kept pace with the spike in global trade over the past two decades. The value of global trade has gone from nearly two trillion US dollars in 1983 to 10 trillion dollars in 2005, he said, adding that during the same period, the forest product trade had grown from 50 billion dollars to 260 billion dollars.

The demand has left a giant footprint on the forest cover across the Asian continent. The Asia-Pacific region has ‘’lost 10 million ha of its forests in the past 15 years, largely in the drive to supply increasing demands for agriculture and forest products,’’ states the FAO. ‘’Recently, new threats to forests have emerged in the push to develop bio-energy resources from such crops as oil palm.’’

But till now, however, the eye-witnesses to such change and devastation were sidelined due to their economically weak status and their lack of power as a political constituency. ‘’The indigenous communities have been left poorer because of the poor quality of the forests,’’ says Walpole. ‘’The enormous exploitation of forest resources has severely impacted them.’’