[Stoves] Biochar in New Mexico (Re: Gordon)

[Nikhil Desai]

Gordon:

Thank you so much for answering your own questions.

This is perhaps only the second time I have learned of an "improved
cookstoves for poor households" in the US. (I am assuming it is on this
side of the coming wall, but doesn't matter.)

That biomass is a shift from propane - or a partial substitute for it - is
also an unusual example for this forum. While I have seen such substitution
in high-income suburban or rural households for heating, I doubt too many
people live in areas that get very cold (< 20F, say) for long periods.

So, the idea of "biochar centric economy" is very promising if the people
who run it have the sufficient technical and management skills.

Good luck. This is another example of dealing with biomass wastes from
farms, parks, cities, and forests. Feedstock quality and cost rather than
stove type and price may be the determining factors.

Nikhil

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nikhil Desai
(US +1) 202 568 5831
*Skype: nikhildesai888*


On Thu, Sep 7, 2017 at 9:34 AM, Gordon West <gordon.west at rtnewmexico.com>
wrote:

> I haven’t taken a turn at answering my own questions…
>
> - What are people trying to do?
>
> When Bill and I began our collaboration four or five years ago in southern
> New Mexico, we had considerably different focuses (though with plenty of
> overlap). I had been working on U.S. forest restoration issues, primarily
> regarding National Forest lands, trying out new approaches to less than
> industrial level forest thinning and developing new products for woody
> biomass that fit within small rural community context. Bill had been
> working to solve the poor Mexican community problem of dependence on
> expensive propane for cooking and heating. He had been using pecan shells
> for feedstock for his biochar producing TLUD stoves, with a distribution
> plan that is intended to create a biochar centric economy - giving TLUD
> stoves and feedstock to families in trade for the produced biochar, which
> should break even in a year or two, after which the families would own the
> device and could make their own decisions about feedstocks and markets. The
> social concept is to create a market for biochar, which should drive the
> adoption of the technology by the populace better than just the cooking and
> heating piece of the equation.
> As Bill recently said, the key thing to do is to create viable markets for
> biochar, then people will flock to making it. The technology piece will
> sort itself out, probably more through innovations by the producers than by
> the ’savers of the planet’. The wide range of benefits associated with
> biochar, from adding value to liability biomass (which is a big problem in
> some areas) to carbon negative energy to more productive soils, will be
> realized even though those things are not the primary drivers of the
> market.
>
> Bill sought me out because he wanted to try using woodchips. At first, we
> saw our efforts as parallel tracks that did not have much in common besides
> the making of biochar. That has evolved quite a lot and we have created a
> ‘community system’ that we think will fit the context of rural communities
> and provide the range of benefits listed above. The communities can range
> from poor Mexican to Native American reservations to small towns to cities
> (Boulder CO is looking at a project with us). In each situation the context
> is closely considered (feedstock source, heat needs, biochar markets) and
> adjustments made to match a ‘community scaled system’ to the context.
>
>
>
> - What problems are getting in the way of your success?
>
> Nothing new here - we need development capital and demonstration projects.
> We have gotten a small amount of grant funding from a community development
> fund in Arizona and a biomass research grant through Arizona State
> Forestry. The bulk of financial support has been through Bill working for
> free (living on social security retirement income), and me working in
> construction to buy parts and keep the lights on at the shop. Various
> funders have rejected proposals based upon: a lack of understanding of the
> issues; a lack of confidence in a small operation run by unknown
> characters; and our lack of ‘evidence’ in the form of publicity,
> demonstrations, and track record (as one fellow put it, “Get three units in
> successful operation for three years, then we can talk.”) We are currently
> aiming at getting private investment to fund completion of the equipment
> set and to do a couple of demonstration projects.
>
>
>
> - What collaborations are possible?
>
> This question is more about folks seeing possibilities after reading
> responses to the first two questions. Two of you have already expressed
> interest in working with Bill and me, so that clearly means collaborations
> are possible!
> Best,
>
> Gordon West
> The Trollworks
>
> *An entrepreneur sees problems as the seeds of opportunity.*
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 6, 2017, at 8:14 PM, Cecil Cook <cec1863 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> - What are people trying to do?
>
>
>
> Invent cool stuff and get it adopted to help save the world.
>
>
>
> - What problems are getting in the way of your success?
>
>
>
> Ignorance about how to invent cool stuff and get it adopted.
>
>
>
> - What collaborations are possible?
>
>
>
>
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