[Stoves] Last? Alternative to Charcoal

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Jeff

 

Thanks for that contribution.

 

The point of Paul's description is that in the circumstances where he is, it
works. It works on several levels and it will probably continue to work for
a long time.

 

The scenario was discussed on this list several times before, going back
years, but there was nowhere that all the ingredients were present. One of
the things that makes the rice hull char attractive is the existence, on a
big scale apparently, of land that benefits from the addition of the char,
and growing of crops that benefit from it.

 

There have been many claims made for biochar which, based on what I read and
hear from people who read much more broadly, that don't stand up to close
scrutiny. The same holds for permaculture and improved stove and lots of
things, so there is nothing 'special' about char, it is just that people get
enthusiastic about something and wish it were universally true.

 

No problem, we can live with filters on information to sift out what is
beneficial and in what circumstances the claims how true. Independent
investigation will support it if it is.

 

As I understand if, the Japanese have being doing this the longest and they
are very circumscribed about what claims are made for biochar. It is
particular soils, particular crops and particular treatment of the char
(temperature, species) that are in combination, what gives improved results.
This theme constantly appears in the literature. As has been pointed out,
just randomly putting char into soil can have negative consequences - it
depends on the soil conditions. The last thing we need is a case of the char
causing more harm than good while claims are made that it is improving
things. The stove community should be working with agricultural trials
experts.

 

I read in the past that adding rice hull ash to rice fields is beneficial -
maybe because the silica is extra-available, don't know. Not my field. I am
just glad we have a working example of using gas and char that makes
economic sense. 

 

Regards

Crispin

 

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