[Stoves] planting trees ( the way I'd do it 1, 000, 000, 000 years from now)

Anand Karve adkarve at gmail.com
Fri Jun 20 20:00:14 CDT 2014


Dear Rolf,
a binder has to be mixed with the char powder. We buy floor sweepings
from a flour mill. This material consists mainly of spilt flour. When
boiled in water, it yields a sticky mass called starch paste, which is
mixed with the char before extruding it. We use about 100 g flour to a
kg of char. The briquettes are dried for about 4 days under bright
sunlight. Some people use cattle dung as binder.
Yours
A.D.Karve
On Fri, Jun 20, 2014 at 5:17 PM, Energies Naturals C.B.
<energiesnaturals at gmx.de> wrote:
>
> Dear Anand and all,
>
> last week we tried to pelletize powdery biochar from a fluidized bed gasifyer on a european flat die pellet press.
>
> It was a messy disaster ! No pellets unless we mixed it with 75%+ sawdust.
>
> There must be a secret to pelletizing or briquetting the char.
>
> Can you give me a hint, Anand ?
>
> Thanks a lot
>
> Rolf Uhle
>
> Energies Naturals C.B.
>
>
>
> On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 12:01:39 +0530
> Anand Karve <adkarve at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Stovers,
>>  We convert agricultural waste into charcoal by using a TLUD type of kiln
>> and briquette the powdery char. In India, we produce annually about 800
>> million tons of agricultural waste, which can theoretically yield about 166
>> million tons of charcoal. There is no need to cut any trees for charcoal.
>> Yours
>> A.D.Karve
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 14, 2013 at 9:43 PM, Cookswell Jikos
>> <cookswelljikos at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>> > OK.... as discouraging as the facts may be, the facts are reality, and
>> > they must be dealt with to avoid future problems.
>> > 1: Can different species be grown, that have higher Mean Annual Increments
>> > of growth?
>> > Yes - at least in East African drylands - the traditional colonial methods
>> > of silviculture were focused on high land pine and cypress plantations
>> > not indigenous dry land adapted trees. (which now provides the feedstock
>> > for more of Kenyas charcoal) Since 1994 we have been experimenting with
>> > different dryland planting and agronomic techniques (please see
>> > http://www.acts.or.ke/dmdocuments/PROJECT_REPORTS/PISCES_Sustainable_Charcoal.pdf  pg.
>> > 7) and most of our findings so far have led us to belive that endimic tree
>> > species managed in a holistic and permacutrual manner produce coppiced
>> > 'branch' charcoal with an excellent life cycle analysis profile.
>> >
>> > 2: Can the woodlots be managed better?
>> > I think there is always room for improvement in many fields, but I
>> > have definitely noticed more small and large farms in Kenya appling more of
>> > a conservation agriculture approach to land use planning.
>> >
>> > 3: Can cooking practises be changed?
>> > Yes - but with great difficulty. Imagine me coming from Kenya to tell your
>> > grandma that she's all wrong and vice versa...
>> >
>> > What I have found though is that as people achieve higher incomes (and
>> > watch more TV) in East Africa cooking energy sources becomes more mixed and
>> > more specialized depending on the dish being cooked.
>> >
>> > 4: Would more efficient stoves help significantly?
>> > The Kenya Ceramic Jiko has been one of the most widely disseminated
>> > cookstoves in East Africa, on one hand, it saves users up to 50% on their
>> > charcoal bills compared to all metal non-insulated stoves. On the other
>> > hand, me and my father always wondered that if by making popularly stove
>> > that made it cheaper and easier to use charcoal coupled
>> > with population growth, did we not create more of a fuel dependency? This
>> > is why since the 1990's we have been advocating as much as possible to
>> > encourage all other stove makers to also think about provisions for
>> > reafforestation efforts.
>> >
>> >
>> > 5: Can other forms of fuel, or other sources of energy, be used to take
>> > some of the pressure off the woodlots?
>> > Please see this recently released quite amazing document from ICRAF
>> > http://www.slideshare.net/agroforestry/miyuki-iiyamaicrafcharcoal-review2013 ''What
>> > happend to the charcoal crisis?''
>> >
>> > Yes, but if as WWF has seen in Virunga, if people switch to fossil fuels,
>> > what happens when they are found under forests? And even solar cookers and
>> > microwaves may not help as much as if one takes into account the Life Cycle
>> > Analysis of the transport, computing power to design one etc... a 3 stone
>> > fire and growing your own trees start looking more attractive.
>> >
>> > I am a great proponent of tree based biomass energy for at least people's
>> > sunday BBQ's ( which is a huge cause of charcoal us in Kenya!) due to the
>> > fact of all the other ecological trickledown effects.
>> >
>> > 6: Would some form of "Agroforestry" be possible, to put the land to a
>> > higher use, with multi-cropping?
>> > ...etc...
>> >
>> > yes we have tried food, fuel and fodder combinations to good effect in
>> > Kajiado - linear non-woodlot forestry is beginning to create more of
>> > an appearance in this area as land becomes adjudicated and title deeds
>> > issued. Land tenure is a huge obstacle to forestry in Kenya, this is why
>> > I personally am in favour of things like aerial seeding programs - if we
>> > some how grow too many trees, we will always be able to cut them down to
>> > cook with!
>> > https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.622109591163773.1073741929.199734683401268&type=1&l=0b605799ef
>> >
>> > Many thanks for your response.
>> >
>> > Teddy
>> >
>> > *Cookswell Jikos*
>> > www.cookswell.co.ke
>> > www.facebook.com/CookswellJikos
>> > www.kenyacharcoal.blogspot.com
>> > Mobile: +254 700 380 009
>> > Mobile: +254 700 905 913
>> > P.O. Box 1433, Nairobi 00606, Kenya
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thu, Nov 14, 2013 at 5:15 AM, <Carefreeland at aol.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >>   Kevin and Stovers,
>> >>     I am desperately wanting to farther study points 1,2,5 and 6. You got
>> >> my attention buddy. Sorry, I don't have a 100 year old experiment to show
>> >> you the results of my work. I do not do research papers because I'm an
>> >> illiterate idiot. Many of you who have been on this list a while may
>> >> remember- this letter will be a small record of the state of a sample of my
>> >> research. Nobody has me asked this lately but you, Kevin. I'll probably die
>> >> knowing and wanting to know way more than I can ever tell, if I talked the
>> >> rest of my life. It just seems to bore everybody but some Biomass people. I
>> >> miss you all out here alone trapped in the future.
>> >>     My extensive experience with landscaping and gardening suggests we
>> >> have only begun to barely scratch the surface of multicropping research.
>> >> Mother Nature has done an amazing job of this, but we are not after the
>> >> same goals as her. Typical natural forestry suggests that a 3 layer canopy
>> >> is most efficent in biomass productive environments. As we push into less
>> >> productive land, that will be different in both directions. . What each
>> >> layer consists of for any given set of environmental conditions is has wide
>> >> increasingly complex variables. Someday 100 years from now, a computer
>> >> program will be crunching in whatever is the Cray Super Computer of that
>> >> age. It will tell the then modern forester what works best- maybe. Then,
>> >> only experiments to compare the real time data to to the computer model
>> >> will fine tune the long term plan.
>> >>     Modern complex forestry computer programs mostly focus on select
>> >> harvest models. Computer planting programs just use current harvest data to
>> >> optimise plantation - type management.  How do you get data on trees that
>> >> take 300 years or more to be fully mature?  Recent studies suggest that
>> >> 1000 year old Redwoods are still increasing in biomass production over
>> >> younger trees. Got 1000 years to collect data?? Maybe we should be breeding
>> >> many trees to grow 1000 years.
>> >>     If we make half the progress growing trees that we have made in a
>> >> typical productive vegetable garden in 4000 or more years, you can throw
>> >> out the predictions for production numbers. New numbers may be easily a
>> >> power of ten more productive. Just look what small changes have brought us.
>> >> When you consider the efficiency of photosynthisis to convert sunlight into
>> >> chemical energy, that number theoreticlly can go two powers of ten or more.
>> >> Not only do we need to first optimise growing technique, but then optimise
>> >> breeding, and back to growing technique and so fourth.
>> >>     I don't even want to consider pandoras box of geneticly modified
>> >> plants. I think outer space is the best place to release them so they don't
>> >> contaminate our biosphere like GM corn has. I considered that thought over
>> >> 20 years ago and it merged with my childhood idea of growing trees on the
>> >> moon and on orbit.  That is why I've wanted to merge a greenhouse with a
>> >> blacksmith shop. It's how space homesteads will do it. I discussed this
>> >> issue at a hydroponics conference in the early 1990's and everybodys eyes
>> >> rolled, so I just went out and worked on it with what I had. Nobody came to
>> >> collect the amazing data I saw everyday for twenty years. A few years ago,
>> >> my greenhouse was forced to close and my finacial situation has nearly
>> >> halted all my research. I hope to slowly get back in the game if I don't
>> >> loose my new 5 acre farm. It is Gods gift to me for my study. Most of the
>> >> assets of this land are hidden and only of use to me.
>> >>     Most of the forests today are being primarlily managed for lumber of
>> >> some type. Hunting wildlife is about the only large second crop. Small
>> >> private lands and prototype corporate plantations are where the experiments
>> >> are being done. When we start to combine orchard and vegetable production
>> >> with forestry, the sky is the limit. I take that back, how far has the Big
>> >> Bang blown things open today? That is the limit. And this is how we will
>> >> get out there if we do, over a billion years of future evolution and space
>> >> travel. Call me crazy, but I saw a powerful vision as a child that told me
>> >> this. You just keep moving the decimal point on the equation. Carl Sagan
>> >> must have seen a vision like mine, and so I supported his work long ago.
>> >> Most thought he was craazy too. Thanks Carl.
>> >>     I have been blessed to spend a little time with one of the greatest
>> >> foresters of our generation. John Guthrie of Wiggins Mississippi fame. My
>> >> crash course in Southern USA forestry, shortly after Hurricane Katrina,
>> >> taught me the following: The closer we get to understanding the original
>> >> native environment, the better we can merge our needs to the use of the
>> >> land given to us.
>> >>     John would be first to tell you that if only a higher power can make
>> >> a tree, who are we to decide how and where to grow it? That has led him to
>> >> push the reintroduction of missing native tree species which have been
>> >> eliminated one at a time. Grown in plantations to examine and focuse on
>> >> each, longleaf pine is a good example. It was like the White Oak tree, the
>> >> king of the forest, until it was logged nearly to extinction. Currently,
>> >> burning of undergrowth is done like the Natives did for management in early
>> >> stage plantations. Timing is everything. We had lively conversation about
>> >> grazing and/ or underplanting of numerous shrub species to reduce this
>> >> practice. I think I opened up his mind by the smile on his face. Some
>> >> private plantations were doing this on a very basic experimental level in
>> >> 2006.
>> >>     The forest plot I was camped in, had longleaf pine being interplanted
>> >> where select thining was being done to young Southern Yellow Pine, It was
>> >> John"s land right behind the International Paper plant, so I think it was a
>> >> prototype. The thinnings were going mostly to chip and saw for OSB and
>> >> other products. The small thinings were hauled at harvest cost for pulp.
>> >> Katrina opened it up more - as if God were saying to John " you got the
>> >> idea boy, now go with it and I'll help yu".
>> >>     Dr. Michler I belive is his name, discussed his work at Purdue U.
>> >> with me about 10 years ago. At the time he was pioneering in the selecting
>> >> of 3 hardwood species: Red  Oak, Black Cherry, and Walnut. An Indiana
>> >> nursery was selling the products of tissue culture of the best selected
>> >> species. Breeding of hardwoods was still in it's infancy. The new science
>> >> then was using gene mapping to select known genes to assist breeding of
>> >> trees which were only starting to bear fruit. That is very exciting -more
>> >> productive and safe than GM plants. I called because I wanted to know if
>> >> anybody had studied growing trees to make charcoal fuel and he wondered
>> >> what for.....
>> >>     Kevin, I would like to add to your bucket list a huge compounding
>> >> factor number 7.  What happens when we do all of the above, yet look at
>> >> secondary and multiple layers of recycling of plants. For a great example
>> >> you and I may have discussed the fact that Charcoal production for an
>> >> industrial fuel may be the best utimate landfill killer. Demolition waste
>> >> must be the largest growing filler of landfills. I have done limited
>> >> research into which trees produce the best metallurgical charcoal. What
>> >> happens when we breed trees for example, to both build houses, then reuse
>> >> the wood to fuel a blast furnace to make the finest iron ever made?. The
>> >> two uses are very compatible. Just so happens that some of the strongest
>> >> hardwoods as well as pine species make real clean charcoal. The hardwoods
>> >> make the most dense charcoal by nature. We can also infuse charcoal with
>> >> additional hydrocarbons in the conversion process, with net energy
>> >> production. If we grow walnut trees for example, we can produce food and
>> >> many chemicals too at no additional cost.
>> >>     Nearly every organic chemical can be coaxed from living material.
>> >> Don't even get me started on the chemical refinery/production avenue. I've
>> >> said enough. I cannot do much more or take time to record what I've found
>> >>  out or can find out without a break in life somewhere. That is why I don't
>> >> contribute much anymore to these lists. It gets me all excited, and then
>> >> frustration sets in. I have 3 kids to raise and cannot waste my time
>> >> playing with the future of mankind when I need food stamps.
>> >>     Enough said.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>     Ok , do I have anybodies attention now???
>> >>     I have to get off the computer so my Son can do his homework,  Sorry,
>> >> no time for editing or additional info tonight.
>> >>
>> >>     Dan Dimiduk
>> >>     Shangri- La Research.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> In a message dated 11/13/2013 7:41:16 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>> >> kchisholm at ca.inter.net writes:
>> >>
>> >> Dear RB
>> >>
>> >> OK.... as discouraging as the facts may be, the facts are reality, and
>> >> they must be dealt with to avoid future problems.
>> >> 1: Can different species be grown, that have higher Mean Annual
>> >> Increments of growth?
>> >> 2: Can the woodlots be managed better?
>> >> 3: Can cooking practises be changed?
>> >> 4: Would more efficient stoves help significantly?
>> >> 5: Can other forms of fuel, or other sources of energy, be used to take
>> >> some of the pressure off the woodlots?
>> >> 6: Would some form of "Agroforestry" be possible, to put the land to a
>> >> higher use, with multi-cropping?
>> >> ...etc...
>> >>
>> >> Most people like to do things the way they have always been done. They
>> >> can't expect different results if they do things the same way they have
>> >> always done things in the past. The cruel facts are that if they want
>> >> different results, then they will have to find changes that are acceptable
>> >> to them, OR choose to live with the consequences of their present
>> >> practises. Those seem to be the cruel realities.
>> >>
>> >> Best wishes,
>> >>
>> >> Kevin
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
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>> >>
>> >>
>> >
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>>
>>
>> --
>> ***
>> Dr. A.D. Karve
>> Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)
>
>
> --
> Energies Naturals C.B. <energiesnaturals at gmx.de>
>
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-- 
***
Dr. A.D. Karve
Trustee & Founder President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)




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