World’s first vertical forest under construction in Milan

This design is close to the full realization of an idea that occurred to me around a decade ago, as I pondered how to house 10 billion humans and still have a biosphere. I built a genetic algorithm framework for modeling these kinds of structures, which was used in Gennaro Senatore: Morphogenesis of Spatial Configurations. It’s amazing to see these kinds of structures actually being built; it’s as though the 21st century has finally arrived.

By Diane Pham
16 October 2011

We've reported extensively on green vertical towers that integrate plant life into their facade, but unlike many of those designs, here's one that goes beyond being a mere concept. Designed by Stefano Boeri - architect, academic and former editor of design and architecture magazine Domus - his Bosco Verticale is a towering 27-story structure, currently under construction in Milan, Italy. Once complete, the tower will be home to the world's first vertical forest.

The Bosco Verticale is a system that optimizes, recuperates, and produces energy. Covered in plant life, the building aids in balancing the microclimate and in filtering the dust particles contained in the urban environment (Milan is one of the most polluted cities in Europe). The diversity of the plants and their characteristics produce humidity, absorb CO2 and dust particles, producing oxygen and protect the building from radiation and acoustic pollution. This not only improves the quality of living spaces, but gives way to dramatic energy savings year round.

Each apartment in the building will have a balcony planted with trees that are able to respond to the city’s weather — shade will be provided within the summer, while also filtering city pollution; and in the winter the bare trees will allow sunlight to permeate through the spaces. Plant irrigation will be supported through the filtering and reuse of the greywater produced by the building. Additionally, Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems will further promote the tower’s self-sufficiency.

The design of the Bosco Verticale is a response to both urban sprawl and the disappearance of nature from our lives and on the landscape. The architect notes that if the units were to be constructed unstacked as stand-alone units across a single surface, the project would require 50,000 square meters of land, and 10,000 square meters of woodland. Bosco Verticale is the first offer in his proposed BioMilano, which envisions a green belt created around the city to incorporate 60 abandoned farms on the outskirts of the city to be revitalized for community use.

+ Stefano Boeri Architetti

Bosco Verticale in Milan Will Be the World’s First Vertical Forest

Technorati Tags: green architecture,carbon sequestration,solar power,wind power,sewage,carbon dioxide,carbon capture,carbon footprint

Genetically altered trees and plants could help counter global warming

Forests of genetically altered trees and other plants could sequester several billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year and so help ameliorate global warming, according to estimates published in the October issue of BioScience.

The study [pdf], by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, outlines a variety of strategies for augmenting the processes that plants use to sequester carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into long-lived forms of carbon, first in vegetation and ultimately in soil. Besides increasing the efficiency of plants' absorption of light, researchers might be able to genetically alter plants so they send more carbon into their roots—where some may be converted into soil carbon and remain out of circulation for centuries. Other possibilities include altering plants so that they can better withstand the stresses of growing on marginal land, and so that they yield improved bioenergy and food crops. Such innovations might in combination boost substantially the amount of carbon that vegetation naturally extracts from air, according to the authors' estimates. The researchers stress that the use of genetically engineered plants for carbon sequestration is only one of many policy initiatives and technical tools that might boost the carbon sequestration already occurring in natural vegetation and crops.

The article, by Christer Jansson, Stan D. Wullschleger, Udaya C. Kalluri, and Gerald A. Tuskan, is the first in a Special Section in the October BioScience that includes several perspectives on the prospects for enhancing biological carbon sequestration. Other articles in the section analyze the substantial ecological and economic constraints that limit such efforts. One article discusses the prospects for sequestering carbon by culturing algae to produce biofuel feedstocks; one proposes a modification of the current regulatory climate for producing genetically engineered trees in the United States; and one discusses societal perceptions of the issues surrounding the use of genetically altered organisms to ameliorate warming attributed to the buildup of greenhouse gases.

Genetically Altered Trees and Plants Could Help Counter Global Warming

Technorati Tags: biofuel,biotechnology,genetic engineering,carbon sequestration,carbon capture,greenhouse gas,carbon dioxide,bioenergy

Bold rainforest idea makes good: Ecuador secures trust fund to save park from oil developers

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com
August 03, 2010

In what may amount to a historic moment in the quest to save the world's rainforests and mitigate climate change, Ecuador and the United Nations Development Fund (UNDF) have created a trust fund to protect one of the world's most biodiverse rainforests from oil exploration and development. The fund will allow the international community to pay Ecuador to leave an estimated 850 million barrels of oil in Yasuni National Park in the ground instead of extracting it. This first-of-its-kind agreement, known as the Yasuni-ITT Initiative, will allow the rainforest protected area to remain pristine: preserving one of the most species-rich places on Earth, safeguarding the lives of indigenous people, and keeping an estimated 410 million tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

"We welcome this long sought after final step to protect an important part of Yasuni National Park," said Kevin Koenig, the Ecuador Coordinator with Amazon Watch. "This is a big win for Ecuador, and the world. Now we need more countries to contribute, and for [Ecuadorian] President Correa to keep his word."

Ecuador is asking for $3.6 US billion from international donors over the next ten years to keep the oil in the ground; the amount is half of what Ecaudor expected to receive if it developed the park. Oil is Ecuador's biggest exporter and the nation's economy remains largely dependent on the fossil fuel. But oil has also brought the nation trouble with pollution, disease, forest destruction, and conflict with indigenous people.

To date, a number of European nations have stepped forward with promises of pledges, although only Germany has put forward a hard number: $838 US million. It has been reported that Spain is likely to put in around a quarter billion, while France, Sweden, and Switzerland are also expected to contribute hefty donations each. In all, approximately half of the $3.6 US billion has already been raised. …

Bold rainforest idea makes good: Ecuador secures trust fund to save park from oil developers

Technorati Tags: Amazon,rainforest,carbon sequestration,carbon dioxide,oil production

Nutrients, viruses, and the biological carbon pump

Southampton, UK (SPX) Jul 02, 2010 - Adding nutrients to the sea could decrease viral infection rates among phytoplankton and enhance the efficiency of the biological pump, a means by which carbon is transferred from the atmosphere to the deep ocean, according to a new mathematical modelling study.

The findings, published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, have implications for ocean geo-engineering schemes proposed for tackling global warming.

Tiny free-floating algae called phytoplankton dominate biological production in the world's oceans and sit at the base of the marine food web. Their population dynamics are controlled by sunlight, nutrient availability, grazing by tiny planktonic animals (zooplankton) and mortality caused by viral infection.

"Viruses are the most abundant organism in the world's oceans, and it is thought that all phytoplankton species are susceptible to infection. Our aim was to model the interaction between viruses, phytoplankton, zooplankton grazing and nutrient levels," said Dr Adrian Martin of the National oceanography Centre (NOC), who collaborated in the project with Dr Christopher Rhodes, a bio-mathematician at Imperial College London.

The researchers took an 'eco-epidemic' modelling approach, taking into account the mutual interaction between the effects of ecology and disease epidemiology. This approach has been used previously to model the effects of infection by pathogens on the population dynamics of mammals and invertebrate animals. …

The models predict that decreased nutrient levels correspond to high viral infection rates among phytoplankton.

On the other hand, increased nutrient levels are predicted to decrease viral infection rates. This means that more of the carbon contained in phytoplankton would be available to zooplankton and other creatures higher up the food chain.

When these organisms die, a proportion of the associated carbon would sink down to the deep ocean, where it could be locked away for centuries, rather than being released back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. This mechanism for exporting carbon to the deep ocean is called the biological carbon pump. …

Nutrients, Viruses And The Biological Carbon Pump

Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide,carbon,carbon sequestration,geoengineering,geo-engineering,global warming,climate change

Columbia University joins ‘Synthetic Tree’ venture -- devices would pull carbon from air

posted: 2010-03-15

Columbia University and a research company have entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement for technology that extracts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it was announced today. The company, Global Research Technologies, hopes to have units within two years that would capture up to a ton of CO2 a day.

Today, only living plants, atmospheric chemical cycles and other natural systems can pull large volumes of CO2 out of the air. Efforts to snare manmade CO2, released primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels, are not yet viable at a large scale, but some scientists think they hold great promise in tackling climate change. Most financial support so far has gone to projects that capture CO2 at large point-sources such as coal plants--not from the atmosphere at large--and policy makers have focused mainly on reducing emissions by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

The technology to be commercialized by GRT has been called a “synthetic tree.” It uses proprietary resins and processes to absorb CO2 from the air, potentially at a rate a thousand times faster than natural trees. The company says that the trees, with a predicted lifespan of 15 years, consume minimal energy during the carbon capture process, and share with other carbon-capture technologies similar energy requirements for storing the resulting carbon. GRT’s founders are Klaus Lackner, director of the Earth Institute’s Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, and Allen Wright, a senior staff associate also at the Earth Institute.

“With this technology, we can enter today’s CO2 markets and build for tomorrow’s demand for climate management technologies,” says GRT’s CEO, William Gridley. Gridley sees air capture as economically competitive and complementary to other forms of carbon capture now being developed. He estimates that initial units will be able to capture up one ton of CO2 per day at a cost of less than $100 per ton. GRT plans to sell diluted captured gas as a nutrient for greenhouses and algae farms, and to eventually sell compressed gas for drink carbonation, to make dry ice, and for other niche markets that today total $1 billion to $2 billion per year.

In the long run, Lackner predicts carbon regulation could transform carbon capture into a multibillion dollar market. “By driving cost down to $50 a ton or less, carbon capture can become a cost-effective option for companies looking to meet regulations emerging in Europe, North America and elsewhere,” said Lackner. He hopes the trees can be manufactured in dormant auto plants, restoring lost jobs and breathing new life into local economies, for both national and global economic and environmental benefit.

“One of the unique advantages of this technology is that it makes possible the capture of CO2 from the air anywhere in the world. Unlike the few existing carbon capture approaches, it’s not necessary to co-locate these units with sources of CO2 emissions,” said James Aloise, who manages a portfolio of intellectual property relating to green technology for Columbia Technology Ventures, the university’s technology transfer office, which announced the agreement. “This inherent flexibility and mobility improves access to the technology, which has true potential to make a global impact.”

University Joins 'Synthetic Tree' Venture

Technorati Tags: carbon capture,carbon dioxide,carbon sequestration,carbon market

Ocean geoengineering scheme no easy fix for global warming

(National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK)) Pumping nutrient-rich water up from the deep ocean to boost algal growth in sunlit surface waters and draw carbon dioxide down from the atmosphere has been touted as a way of ameliorating global warming. However, a new study led by Professor Andreas Oschlies of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany, pours cold water on the idea.

"Computer simulations show that climatic benefits of the proposed geo-engineering scheme would be modest, with the potential to exacerbate global warming should it fail," said study co-author Dr Andrew Yool of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS). …

The aim would be to mimic the effects of natural ocean upwelling and increase drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide by phytoplankton through the process of photosynthesis. Some of the sequestered carbon would be exported to the deep ocean when phytoplankton die and sink, effectively removing it from the system for hundreds or thousands of years.

A previous study, of which Yool was lead author, used an ocean general circulation model to conclude that literally hundreds of millions of pipes would be required to make a significant impact on global warming. But even if the technical and logistical difficulties of deploying the vast numbers of pipes could be overcome, exactly how much carbon dioxide could in principle be sequestered, and at what risk?

In the new study, the researchers address such questions using a more integrated model of the whole Earth system. The simulations show that, under most optimistic assumptions, three gigatons of carbon dioxide per year could be captured. This is under a tenth of the annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, which currently stand at 36 gigatons per year. A gigaton is a million million kilograms. … when the simulated pumps were turned off, the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and surface temperatures rose rapidly to levels even higher than in the control simulation without artificial pumps. This finding suggests that there would be extra environmental costs to the scheme should it ever need to be turned off for unanticipated reasons. …

Ocean geoengineering scheme no easy fix for global warming

Technorati Tags: global warming,climate change,algae bloom,carbon dioxide,ocean,ocean fertilization,carbon sequestration

Scottish experiment increases carbon capture efficiency

By Channel 4 News, Updated on 25 November 2009 

It is an advance that could make cleaner coal more affordable.

The technology, known as carbon capture and storage, has been tested at Scottish Power's Longannet coal-fired plant in Fife, which is the third-largest coal-powered power station in Europe, pumping out 800 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. …

Until now, the process to separate carbon dioxide needed so much energy it would use a third of the power station's output to operate at full scale.

The new process diverts emissions from a chimney into a test unit where they are fed through a chemical solution which includes molecules called amines. …

Scientists say they have now found a chemical mix for the amine that is sticky enough to grab the carbon dioxide but does not need a large amount of energy to extract it.

That makes the whole process more viable commercially.

Scottish experiment cuts coal emissions

Technorati Tags: carbon capture,carbon sequestration,carbon dioxide

BP signs Aussie deal to offset carbon emissions by planting 10 million eucalyptus trees

My only hope is that they plant these trees where the changed Australian climate can support them.

By Asa Wahlquist | October 15, 2009

EUROPE'S second-largest oil company, BP, has hired Perth-based Carbon Conscious to plant 10 million gum trees in Australia to absorb greenhouse gas emissions as companies prepare for the introduction of climate change laws.

The deal sent Carbon Conscious shares soaring 10 per cent to close at 44c.

The company will begin planting trees on marginal farmland in 2010, at an initial cost of $2.5million.

It is the second major deal for Carbon Conscious, which confirmed an agreement with Origin Energy in July to plant $26m worth of trees over three years.

The trees "sequester" carbon dioxide, pulling it out of the atmosphere and storing it.

Carbon Conscious chief executive Peter Balsarini said the mallee eucalyptus trees would be planted on working farms.

"We go to farmers and we look for their marginal, less productive country," he said.

This included land that had been over-cleared or affected by salinity, Mr Balsarini said.

"We are looking at preventing salinity by getting our tree roots into the water table and lowering it. It has risen because of the over-clearing of the land," he said. Carbon Conscious became an accredited provider under the federal government's Greenhouse program last December. …

BP signs Aussie tree deal to offset carbon emissions

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,carbon market,carbon offset,carbon footprint,oil production,reforestation,carbon dioxide

Carbon negative hemp walls are 7x stronger than concrete

 

Buildings account for thirty-eight percent of the CO2 emissions in the U.S., according to the U.S. Green Building Council, and demand for carbon neutral and/or zero footprint buildings is at an all-time high. Now there is a new building material that is not just carbon neutral, but is actually carbon negative. Developed by U.K.-based Lhoist Group, Tradical® Hemcrete® is a concrete substitute made from hemp, lime and water. What makes it carbon negative? There is more CO2 locked-up in the process of growing and harvesting of the hemp than is released in the production of the lime binder. Of course the equation is more complicated than that, but Hemcrete® is still an amazing new technology that could change the building industry. …

Carbon Negative Hemp Walls are 7x Stronger than Concrete

Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide,carbon sequestration

Carbon neutral cement firm ready to build on funding success

Tom Young, BusinessGreen, Tuesday 11 August 2009 at 00:15:00

Fresh from securing £1m in new funding, UK startup outlines plan to roll out CO2 absorbing cement

UK-based startup Novacem announced last week that it has raised £1m in new funding as it seeks to commercialise its carbon absorbing technique for manufacturing cement – a breakthrough that the company claimed could result in a negative carbon footprint for one of the world's most carbon intensive industries.

Currently, the annual production of more than 2.5 billion tonnes of Portland cement is responsible for five per cent of global CO2 emissions, and the sector's carbon footprint is expected to grow with demand for cement volumes expected to double by 2050.

However, Novacem claims that unlike Portland cement, each tonne of cement it produces absorbs three quarters of a tonne more CO2 over its life cycle than it emits.

The company said that its manufacturing process, which was developed based on research undertaken by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Imperial College London, utilises magnesium oxide and special mineral additives that work at lower temperatures than normal cement and ensure that it absorbs atmospheric CO2 as the cement hardens.

Stuart Evans, chairman of Novacem, said that the new investors would help the company expand its research team as it seeks to commercialise the product.

"We are assembling a world-class team and these funds will help us grow the team, complete an initial pilot plant before the end of 2009 and accelerate development and commercialisation," he said. …

Carbon neutral cement firm ready to build on funding success

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,carbon dioxide,carbon capture

Tiny molecular bowls pull carbon dioxide out of the air

The discovery of a tiny bowl-shaped molecule which collects carbon dioxide right out of the air has beckoned some creative solutions to global warming.

By genetically engineering microbes to manufacture the handy molecule, scientists hope to make it useful as an industrial absorbent for CO2 capture. That could help clean up smokestacks from dirty coal-fired power plants, but it’s also possible that the molecules could be used for pulling carbon dioxide right out of the ambient air.

Tossell's new computer modeling studies found that the molecule might be well-suited for removing carbon dioxide directly from ambient air, in addition to its previously described potential use as an absorbent for CO2 from electric power plant and other smokestacks. "It is also conceivable that living organisms may be developed which are capable of emplacing structurally ion receptors within their cell membranes," the report notes.

Capturing Carbon Dioxide In Tiny Bowls: Global Warming Fix From Microbes? via  CleanTechnica

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,carbon dioxide

Carbon capture and storage progressing toward feasibility

 

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has the potential to cut global Co2 emissions dramatically. We’re talking huge cuts. It has been estimated that a plant implementing CCS can cut emissions by 80-90 percent compared with a plant that doesn’t use CCS. Sounds great, right? Well, there are some some problems.

Cost is the number one challenge that CCS faces. “Applying it would significantly increase the cost of electricity beyond what society is likely willing to pay,” said Sarah Forbes,  a World Resources Institute Senior Associate. Another challenge is that no fully integrated demonstrations have taken place. The pieces have been tested individually, but the entire puzzle is yet to be seen. …

Carbon Capture and Storage Progressing Toward Feasibility

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration

Coal: DOE revives FutureGen, reversing Bush-era decision

The Obama administration gave conditional support today for a federal-industry partnership that would build an advanced coal-burning power plant in Illinois to trap and store carbon dioxide emissions, reversing a Bush-era decision to abandon the FutureGen project.

The Energy Department plans to contribute slightly more than $1 billion to the project. The announcement follows pressure from Illinois lawmakers -- including Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat -- who had savaged former Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman's decision to abandon the plan early last year.

With a former Illinois senator now in the White House, DOE has changed directions on FutureGen. President Obama's Energy secretary, Steven Chu, today announced a "provisional agreement" with the FutureGen Alliance, a consortium of major coal and utility companies such as American Electric Power Co. Inc. and Peabody Energy Corp.

"This important step forward for FutureGen reflects this Administration's commitment to rapidly developing carbon capture and sequestration technology as part of a comprehensive plan to create jobs, develop clean energy and reduce climate change pollution," Chu said in a prepared statement.

DOE said FutureGen would be the first commercial-scale, "fully integrated" carbon capture and sequestration project in the country. The plant would marry the use of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology with greenhouse gas emission controls. …

COAL: DOE revives FutureGen, reversing Bush-era decision

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,carbon capture

Amazon deforestation leads to development 'boom-and-bust'

By Alok Jha

Chopping down the Amazon rainforest to make way for crops or cattle has no economic or social benefit for local people in the long term, according to a major new study.

The finding undercuts the argument that deforestation, which causes 20% of the globe's greenhouse gas emissions, leads to long-term development.

Conservationists showed communities develop rapidly but temporarily when forests are cleared. But rates of development quickly fall back below national average levels when the loggers move on and local resources near depletion.

More than 155,000 square kilometres of Amazonian rainforest in Brazil have been cleared for timber or burned to make way for agricultural land since 2000. Every year, around 1.8m hectares are destroyed — a rate of four football fields every minute. The Amazonian rainforest is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, guarding against climate change by absorbing CO2 and maintaining geochemical cycles.

But some argue that local communities, which are among the poorest in Brazil, should be able to benefit from the local resources by creating farms or logging the trees. To calculate these potential benefits of deforestation for local communities, a team of international scientists analysed the life expectancy, literacy and income of people living in 286 areas around the Brazilian Amazon.

Their results, published today in Science, showed that the quality of life for local communities improved rapidly when a forest first cleared. "The monthly average income started out at 74 Reals per month," said Rob Ewers of the department of life sciences at Imperial College London, a member of the study team. "Then it went up to as much as 196 Reals per month in the middle [of the deforested area] and then to 82 once the resource is gone. Literacy went from 68% at the frontier [of the forest] up to a maximum of 83% then dropped down to 69%." …

Amazon deforestation leads to development 'boom-and-bust.'

Technorati Tags: Amazon,deforestation,biodiversity,carbon dioxide,carbon sequestration

Pumping CO2 underground best hope for climate: Shell

By Joshua Schneyer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Projects to capture industrial emissions and store them in the earth's crust could cut CO2 pollution by up to 40 percent, according to officials from oil major Shell.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) -- gathering CO2 emissions at their source and pumping them underground -- faces steep cost hurdles, but may someday be worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, a Shell executive said.

"CCS is probably the largest source of potential carbon reduction for the next 30 years, and a way to deal with 30 to 40 percent of (global) emissions," said Kimberly Corley, Shell senior advisor for CO2 and environmental affairs. …

Pumping CO2 underground best hope for climate: Shell

Technorati Tags: carbon capture,carbon sequestration

New York touts climate-saving plan to lock away CO2

by Sebastian Smith

NEW YORK (AFP) – Scientists in New York have touted an experimental plan to lock carbon dioxide gasses underground and prevent big polluters like China and the United States from wrecking the world's climate.

The idea, called carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, is at the cutting edge of attempts to dramatically reduce CO2 spewed by industrial plants into the atmosphere.

The technology exists, but is little tested and a group of energy companies, academics and state officials hope to make New York one of the field's trail blazers.

"We have the opportunity to demonstrate new technology that could be revolutionary internationally," Paul DeCotis, deputy head of energy policy for New York state, told a conference at Columbia University.

"We would love to be exporting to the rest of the world on carbon capture sequestration technology." …

New York touts climate-saving plan to lock away CO2

Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide,carbon sequestration

Carbon capture facility to go live

Andrew Donoghue, BusinessGreen, Thursday 9 April 2009 at 16:22:00

A Total plant in France could mark the next step in CCS development

The first power station retro-fitted with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology is due to go live but environmental campaigners and experts claim the technology could be a dangerous distraction.

According to reports, a facility in France owned by power company Total has been equipped with CCS technology and is due to be activated this month.

Located in the Lacq region of south-west France, Total claims the project will essentially work by reversing the action of an existing natural gas plant. Rather than piping natural gas from a rock reservoir to the processing plant, concentrated C02 will instead be pumped the other way down the pipeline into the empty rock formation which used to house the natural gas.

"For CO2 transport, the pilot will take advantage of the existing pipeline used for the past 30 years to export natural gas extracted from the Rousse field to the treatment plant at Lacq. During the pilot, CO2 will simply be piped in the opposite direction," Total claimed in a report on the project. …

Carbon capture facility to go live

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,carbon dioxide

Hemp homes offer ‘better than zero’ carbon footprint

Hemp could hold the key to the future of carbon-neutral construction, according to researchers at the University of Bath.

Hemp is a fast-growing, non-intoxicating member of the cannabis family.

Working with a consortium led by the university’s BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, the researchers have embarked on a project to develop the use of hemp-lime construction materials in the UK.

Hemp-lime is a lightweight composite material made of plant fibres bound together with a lime-based adhesive. The material offers a trio of benefits: lime has a low-carbon footprint, hemp-lime is an efficient insulator and hemp stores atmospheric carbon as it grows. The result, researchers say, is a construction material with a “better than zero” carbon footprint. …

Hemp homes offer ‘better than zero’ carbon footprint

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,hemp

Monbiot: Here comes the latest utopian catastrophe: biochar

by George Monbiot

Whenever you hear the word miracle, you know there's trouble just around the corner. But however many times they lead to disappointment or disaster, the newspapers never tire of promoting miracle cures, miracle crops, miracle fuels and miracle financial instruments. We have a bottomless ability to disregard the laws of economics, biology and thermodynamics when we encounter a simple solution to complex problems. So welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the new miracle. It's a low-carbon regime for the planet which makes the Atkins Diet look healthy: woodchips with everything.

Biomass is suddenly the universal answer to our climate and energy problems. Its advocates claim that it will become the primary source of the world's heating fuel, electricity, road transport fuel (cellulosic ethanol) and aviation fuel (bio-kerosene). Few people stop to wonder how the planet can accommodate these demands and still produce food and preserve wild places. Now an even crazier use of woodchips is being promoted everywhere (including in the Guardian(1)). The great green miracle works like this: we turn the planet's surface into charcoal.

Sorry, not charcoal. We don't call it that any more. Now we say biochar. The idea is that wood and crop wastes are cooked to release the volatile components (which can be used as fuel), then the residue - the charcoal - is buried in the soil. According to the magical thinkers who promote it, the new miracle stops climate breakdown, replaces gas and petroleum, improves the fertility of the soil, reduces deforestation, cuts labour, creates employment, prevents respiratory disease and ensures that when you drop your toast it always lands butter side up. (I invented the last one, but give them time). …

This miracle solution has suckered people who ought to know better, including the earth systems scientist James Lovelock(3), the eminent climate scientist Jim Hansen(4), the author Chris Goodall and the climate campaigner Tim Flannery(5). At the UN climate negotiations beginning in Bonn on Sunday, several national governments will demand that biochar is eligible for carbon credits, providing the financial stimulus required to turn this into a global industry(6). Their proposal boils down to this: we must destroy the biosphere in order to save it. …

Woodchips With Everything

Technorati Tags: carbon sequestration,biochar

EU electricity firms: We’ll be carbon neutral by 2050

Chief executives of European electricity companies this week pledged to make their industry carbon-neutral by 2050.

CEOs from companies in 27 nations — representing more than 70 percent of Europe’s power generation — issued their declaration on the eve of EU discussions focused on the economy, energy and climate.

The declaration states, “We will progressively make use of all available and economically sound low-carbon and carbon-free options when investing in power generation assets, taking into account national energy policies: renewable energies, nuclear power, high-efficiency combined heat & power, and efficient clean fossil technologies including carbon capture & storage (CCS). In addition, we will continue seeking to operate our plants and grids in the most efficient way, while investing to develop innovative low-emitting technologies.”

The statement also called on European policy-makers to help pave the way for carbon-free energy by increasing support for research and development, moving forward on regional integration of electricity markets, simplifying licensing procedures, working with industry to set electrical vehicle standards and providing adequate public information and education.

EU electricity firms: We’ll be carbon neutral by 2050

Technorati Tags: renewable energy,carbon sequestration