 |
| |
Innovations
|
Biochar: Carbon Mitigation from the Ground Up David J. Tenenbaum Abstract
As more and more multibillion-dollar projects for sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) deep within the Earth seek financial support, human-formed fertile black soils in the Amazon basin suggest a cheaper, lower-tech route toward the same destination. Scattered patches of dark, charcoal-rich soils known as terra preta (Portuguese for "black earth") are the inspiration behind international efforts that are investigating how burying biomass-derived charcoal, or "biochar," could boost soil fertility and transfer a sizeable amount of CO2 from the atmosphere into safe extended storage in topsoil. Although burial of biochar is just beginning to be tested in long-term field trials, studies of Amazonian terra preta reveal that charcoal has the potential to lock up carbon in soils for centuries.
The full version of this article is available for free in HTML or PDF formats. |
|
|
|
|
