paleorthid's Feed

New Gardening with Biochar FAQ

paleorthid — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:59:00 -0400

The argument for encouraging biochar use as a ubiquitous household practice is compelling: Improved garden soil will increase food production where it has the most impact on energy demand. Implementing charcoal manufacture at a household level draws in a supply of yard prunings and workbench scraps that otherwise would be lost to non-charcoal alternatives. Unfortunately, finding even the most basic information on how to implement biochar use as a personal sustainability practice is discouragingly time consuming. In response I have started up a FAQ Tagged by paleorthid under blogs, carbon, environment, agrichar, bio-char, garden, terra_preta,

Transect points: Redox Cascade

paleorthid — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 07:12:00 -0400

Redox: soil pH's energetic dance partner. When pH changes, pE must also change in response. The reverse is true also. In soil, that response departs from simple mirroring. So much so that it can seem to be two separate dances. Soil pH and pE have different causes of change and different effective buffering agents. The term 'buffering' is replaced in a pE context - it is called poise. A stabilized soil pE system is referred to as a well poised system, differences in soil buffering versus soil poise account for the departure from 1:1 mirroring. Now for the exciting stuff. To many of us, what makes soil different than geologic material is that it is in an excited state, excited mostly by solar energy as facilitated by living processes. Unlike soil pH, soil pE is directly influenced by these energy fluxes. Tagged by paleorthid under bio-char, chemistry, pedology, wetland, soil_science,

Robert Brown & Jennifer Holmgren presentation slides (pdf)

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:42:00 -0500

Very informative Tagged by paleorthid under pyrolysis, bio-char, waste, energy, biofuel,

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from waste and biomass to energy plants -- Gutierrez et al. 23 (2): 133 -- Waste Management & Rese

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:39:00 -0500

Following the Kyoto protocol with respect to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases emissions, and EU energy policy and sustainability in waste management, there has been an increased interest in the reduction of emissions from waste disposal operations. From the point of view of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, waste incineration and waste co-combustion are very acceptable methods for waste disposal. In order to achieve very low N2O emissions from waste incineration, particularly for waste with higher nitrogen content (e.g. sewage sludge), two factors are important: temperature of incineration over 900°C and avoiding the selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) de-NOX method based on urea or ammonia treatments. The more modern selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for de-NOX give rise to negligible sources of N2O. Tagged by paleorthid under pyrolysis, bio-char, biofuel, waste, energy,

Scoop: Kelpie Wilson: 2006 Top Green Tech Ideas

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:22:00 -0500

Tagged by paleorthid under terra_preta, bio-char, environment, energy,

Opinion: How biofuels could cut carbon emissions, produce energy and restore dead land « Not exactly rocket science

paleorthid — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:25:00 -0500

plant diversity and low input biomass for biofuel Tagged by paleorthid under soil, environment, co2, biofuel, research, opinion, science, carbon_sequestration, conservation,

Dangerous Intersection » Blog Archive » How to make energy a serious campaign issue

paleorthid — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:09:00 -0500

In the January 29, 2007 edition of Time Magazine, Montana Democrat Governor Brian Schweitzer was asked how Democrats could make energy an issue in the upcoming presidential campaign. Here’s what Schweitzer said Tagged by paleorthid under soil, scientist, biofuel, coal, politics, government, energy,

transect points: Black Earth

paleorthid — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:31:00 -0500

Peak Energy has a long post on Terra Preta that brings together what has been established on the subject. As of yet, there is no direct mention of the role of glomalin , just a minor mention of the mutualistic fungi that produce it. Glomalin is an unvalidated factor in Terra Preta formation that several of us sense will be demonstrated by soil research as fundamentally important. Spurred on by back40, I am fascinated with bio-char, Terra Preta's key soil amendment. Last summer I constructed a small charcoal retort out of a cracker tin. I used it to produce small pilot batches of low temperature charcoal. Hoping to transform my simple charcoal into a reasonably bio-char-like material, I am currently composting my bits. Tagged by paleorthid under terra_preta, bio-char, soil_science, blog, fungi, glomalin,

transect points: Missoula Soil Science Consultant Speaks

paleorthid — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 05:50:00 -0500

Tell someone you are a soil scientist and it invariably requires an explanation of what you do. It's interesting that few of us do the same things and the telling of it reveals much about the person as well as the community they serve. For that reason I like to collect other folks' descriptions of their work. Certainly the telling of Barry Dutton's life work stands among my favorites because he built his business from scratch in a particularly cost-conscious region. He did it largely without the benefit of the 2 main drivers of regional soil consulting booms: booming suburban sprawl and booming energy prices driving increased well drilling and surface mining for coal and oil shale. I've heard several iterations of Barry's telling over the years and look forward to future installments. Tagged by paleorthid under soil, science, consulting, pedology,

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Alternative Fueling Station Counts by State and Fuel Type

paleorthid — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 01:49:00 -0500

a listing of Alternative Fuel Station counts by state and fuel type, CNG-Compressed Natural Gas, E85-85% Ethanol, LPG-Propane, ELEC-Electric, BD-Biodiesel, HY-Hydrogen and LNG-Liquefied Natural Gas. Tagged by paleorthid under vehicle, fuel, alternative, energy,