The Biochar Debate by Bruges, James : Eco-building, Energy, Design

The Biochar Debate by Bruges, James

The Biochar Debate by Bruges, James

Charcoal-making is one of the oldest industrial technologies, and in the last decade there has been a growing wave of excitement about its potential for combating climate change. This is because burying biochar (fine-grained charcoal) is a highly effective way to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In addition it can increase the yield of food crops and the ability of soil to retain moisture. Some people are concerned that awarding carbon credits for biochar could have seriously damaging outcomes. The Biochar Debate agrees, but describes an alternative approach, called the Carbon Maintenance Fund (CMF), that avoids the dangers. This would give every government the incentive to enable businesses, farmers and individuals to increase their country's carbon pool. It is based on remote sensing by satellite, a tried and tested technology, and would be applied globally each year to measure the increase or decrease of carbon in plants, soil and roots.

The Biochar Debate sets out experimental and scientific aspects of biochar in the context of global warming, the global economy and negotiations for the future of the Kyoto Protocol. It concludes by encouraging all gardeners and farmers to use biochar to help prevent climate change.

James Bruges worked as an architect in London, Sudan and India before setting up the practice of Bruges Tozer Partnership with Howard Tozer in Bristol. His books include Sustainability and the Bristol Urban Village Initiative, The Little Earth Book, The Big Earth Book and part of What About China?. With his wife Marion he keeps in touch with and visits Gandhian NGOs in southern India.

More Information

  • Edition: 1st
  • ISBN: 9781900322676
  • Format: Paperback
  • Publisher: Green Books

"There is one way we could save ourselves [from global heating] and that is through the massive burial of charcoal. It would mean farmers turning all their agricultural waste, which contains carbon that plants have spent the summer sequestering, into non-biodegradable charcoal and burying it in the soil . . . This scheme would need no subsidy: the farmer would make a profit." James Lovelock

"Biochar is a relatively new word in the green lexicon, but one you ll hear more about going forward. It isn't a silver bullet, but it may be a useful help in the climate challenge this slim book will let you think knowledgeably about it, and start to act in your own backyard." Bill McKibben, author of Earth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.

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