This may be of interest to biochar & stove groups. I don't have access from here to forward to any of the Linkedin groups...<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Richard Grimshaw</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:r.grimshaw@comcast.net">r.grimshaw@comcast.net</a>></span><br>
Date: 14 December 2011 08:05<br>Subject: {Vetiver System} Vetiver, stoves, and biochar<br>To: Vetiver System <<a href="mailto:vetiver-system@googlegroups.com">vetiver-system@googlegroups.com</a>><br>Cc: mike mahowald <<a href="mailto:memahowald@gmail.com">memahowald@gmail.com</a>><br>
<br><br><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><br><div><font face="Arial">I was speaking with Criss Juliard this morning and he reminded me about the good work being done by <a href="mailto:memahowald@gmail.com" target="_blank">Mike Mahowald's</a> group, <a href="http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/" target="_blank">Haiti Reconstruction</a> in Haiti with respect to using vetiver for fueling efficient cooking stoves. Let me first say how impressed I am with the various programs that his group sponsors. It is doing a terrific job. It has quite a focus on the Vetiver System for: <a href="http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/vetiver-grass-uses" target="_blank">soil and water conservation</a>, <a href="http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/video/haiti-conservation-3step" target="_blank">soil fertility</a>, and <a href="http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/alternative-fuel-for-haiti" target="_blank">biofuel</a>. Haiti Reconstruction is promoting TLUD </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><span style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:1.2!important">stoves - </span></span><span style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:1.2!important"><a href="http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/tlud-stoves-for-haiti-2" target="_blank"><span style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:1.2!important">Top Lit Up Draft</span></span><span style="line-height:17px"> </span><span style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:1.2!important">gasifiers stoves</span></span></a> as the best stove design for Haiti. These stoves are relatively cheap and will burn any sort of fuel including grass and vetiver produces very high heat output compared to other species; they burn cleanly and efficiently, have a good life expectancy, no dirty charcoal and no nee to use trees; smokeless, and produces biochar that can be returned to the soil. The group will also be pellitizing vetiver leaves as fuel. Assuming that a country wide vetiver program emerges for erosion and flood control, as well as for slope stabilization there will be a lot of vetiver biomass that could be used as biofuel. Incidentally these TLUD stoves should be able to be made by any village metal working shop. Other low income countries could and should follow this example. </span></span></font></div>
<div><span style="line-height:18px">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Here are a few
botanical facts about Vetiver <i>(Gueric
Boucard) with regard to Biofuel use</i>:</span></p><p style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:21pt;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Arial"><span>1)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial">According to Dr. Massimo
Maffei of the University of Turin, Italy, Vetiver is the one plant on the
planet with the highest photosynthetic activity. What this means, is
that, given x amount of sunshine and sufficient water and nutrients,
vetiver produces the most dry biomass per unit of time.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:21pt;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Arial"><span>2)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial">Other plants produce a
tremendous tonnage of biomass per hectare like potatoes, sugarcane, sugar
beets, grapes, etc. Some of these plants even yield more than 100 tons per
hectare. However, such biomass contains 50% or more water moisture, and is
difficult, if not impossible to dry quickly in the sun. Vetiver Hay is
easily sun dried in a few hours, and produces up to 70 or 80 dry-tons per
hectare of cellulosic biomass with adequate water and nutrients.
Unlike other biomass, vetiver grows above ground and is relatively easy
to harvest, by hand or with the right, specially designed Mower.</span></p></span><span style="line-height:18px"><p style="font-family:Arial;margin-left:21pt;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Arial"><span>3)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial">Vetiver (vetiveria
zizanoides) is from the “Graminae” family, like many other grasses and
grains. However, the variety found in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
does not propagate by seed. (This is a great advantage; otherwise, it would
be a terrible weed to eradicate). Instead, Vetiver is a perennial, which grows
in a clump of seedlings, and which propagates vegetatively by replanting the
separated seedlings. A one-year-old clump contains up to 100 seedlings.
The propagation ratio is about 50:1. In other words, it takes one
hectare of a Vetiver nursery to re-plant 50 hectares. Since Vetiver is
technically a “rhizome”, the single seedling will grow on the periphery, until
the plant reaches a diameter of 30 cm after one year and of nearly 1 meter
after several years. Such a vetiver plantation can last up to 15 or 20
years without replanting. Once the plantation is established, there
is virtually zero maintenance, other than watering and fertilizing. An
established VETIVER plantation is a veritable BIOMASS FUEL FACTORY that
only needs to be mowed as needed, any time of the year. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:14pt">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:Arial;text-align:justify;line-height:14pt"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;line-height:normal"><a href="http://www.vetiver.org/DR-alternative%20energy.pdf" target="_blank">More from Boucard</a></span></p>
<font face="Arial"><span style="line-height:14px">Spare a few minutes to check out Haiti Reconstruction site, I can promise you that you will learn something useful. If bilateral and multilateral development agencies would just stand back and THINK for a moment, they would soon realize that the Vetiver System will not only mitigate against extreme weather conditions, but will conserve soil, moisture and increase crop yields: and the residues can provide fuel for cooking and heat. What more can you ask from one of the cheapest and friendliest green technologies on Planet Earth. In other words VS is key for tackling CLIMATE CHANGE issues.</span></font></div>
<div><span style="line-height:14px"><font face="Arial"><br></font></span></div><div><font face="Arial"><span style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:1.2!important">Dick Grimshaw</span></span></font></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div>
<font face="Arial"><span style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:1.2!important"><br></span></span></font></div><div><font face="Arial"><span style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:1.2!important"><br></span></span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial"><span style="line-height:17px"><span style="line-height:1.2!important"><br></span></span></font></div><div><span style="color:rgb(102,51,0);font-family:'book antiqua',palatino;font-size:13px;line-height:17px"><span style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.2!important"><br>
</span></span></div><div><font color="#663300" face="'book antiqua', palatino"><span style="font-size:13px;line-height:15px"><br></span></font></div></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<p></p>
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