Why are the Warministas afraid of Biochar?

My scepticism about the AGW proposition is obvious and well known but that does not prevent me from offering an opinion of the efficacy of the schemes devised and promulgated to address the issue. Where I tend to take a rather Hippocratic approach, namely that any idea to address “Climate Change” should in the first instance do no harm but secondly I believe that there should be other benefits from the plan that will remain a benefit even if the AGW enthusiasts are proven to be as wrong as I tend to think they are. Thus I am all for making every thing we do as energy efficient as we can make them, and if we are to try to mitigate carbon emissions then ideas like Biochar are far superior to stupidity like a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme

Biochar – a charcoal created by pyrolysis could offset 12 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions (Image: bdiscoe)

Left – a nutrient-poor oxisol; right – an oxisol transformed into fertile terra preta using biochar

Overview showing inputs, process, outputs, applications and impacts on global climate (Image: Nature Materials)

According to a new study, as much as 12 percent of the world’s human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be sustainably offset by producing biochar, a charcoal-like substance made from plants and other organic materials. That’s more than would be offset if the same plants and materials were burned to generate bioenergy, says the study. Additionally, biochar could improve food production in the world’s poorest regions as it increases soil fertility.

Biochar is made by decomposing biomass like plants, wood and other organic materials at high temperature in a process called slow pyrolysis – a form of incineration that decomposes organic materials by heat in the absence of oxygen. Normally, biomass breaks down and releases its carbon into the atmosphere within a decade or two. But biochar is more stable and can hold onto its carbon for hundreds or even thousands of years, keeping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide out of the air longer.

Other biochar benefits include: improving soils by increasing their ability to retain water and nutrients; decreasing nitrous oxide and methane emissions from the soil into which it is tilled; and, during the slow pyrolysis process, producing some bio-based gas and oil that can offset emissions from fossil fuels.

The reality is that there is another agenda for most of the Warministas that has nothing at all to do with the climate otherwise it would be them and not the coalition suggesting that we pursue this sort of approach to AGW…
Cheers Comrades

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