by David Brooks | Jul 1, 2022 | Blog | 0 comments

Biochar is one of those things that sounds too good to be true: Turning waste wood into a carbon-locking, soil-helping material through a simple, cheap process (pyrolysis – burning it in a low-oxygen environment).

There’s a big biochar plant being developed in Maine at a former mill (I profiled it last year) but it also works on a small scale. The Valley News has a story about a landowner who does it and helps others, too.

Burning for biochar most commonly occurs in the western United States, where the process thins out woody debris on the forest floor that contributes to wildfire risk. While this is certainly still a benefit in New England, biochar would likely be most useful for building productive soil without the use of chemical fertilizers.

“The tree died; it did its thing. How can we keep this tree’s legacy alive?” Scherer asked, nodding toward the biomass pile he’d been feeding into the kiln.

“We’re using the things that are around. This closes the loop.”

The whole story is here.

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Dave Brooks has written a science/tech column since 1991 – yes, that long – and has written this blog since 2006, keeping an eye on topics of geekish interest in and around New Hampshire, from software to sea level rise, population dynamics to printing (3-D, of course). He moderates monthly Science Cafe NH discussions, beer in hand, and discusses the geek world regularly on WGIR-AM radio..

Brooks earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics but got lost on the way to the Ivory Tower and ended up in a newsroom. He has reported for newspapers from Tennessee to New England. Rummage through his bag of awards you’ll find oddities like three Best Blog prizes from the New Hampshire Press Association and a Writer of the Year award from the N.H. Farm and Forest Bureau, of all places. He joined the Concord Monitor in 2015.