Biochar, climate change and soil report

Biochar, climate change and soil report
a downloadable pdf on the subject that i have not read yet, was at the top of the links of the canadian biochar initiative, the page describes it as;  "This report summarises the major findings and outstanding research issues on biochar, climate change and soil. (65 pages)
 18 February 2009"

BioEnergy Lists: Biochar Mailing Lists | Sharing technical and event information about Biochar from the Biochar email lists

BioEnergy Lists: Biochar Mailing Lists | Sharing technical and event information about Biochar from the Biochar email lists

"Caroline Masiello with Rice University and her team of researchers has recently published a paper that studies the effect of the temperature used to create the biochar on field capacity and hydrophobicity.

In the study, they made biochar out of tree leaves, corn stalks and found that wood chips, and found that it was the pyrolisis temperature that had the biggest impact on field capacity and hydrophobicity. Their study recommends a pyrolisis temperature of 400 °C–600 °C.

This is a quick summary of the work:
http://phys.org/news/2012-03-cooking-biochar-recipe-soil-additive.html

The journal article is here:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953412000438
(support your local college and/or technical library, or contact the authors for a copy of the article)."

'via Blog this'
Posted 4th May by derek visser

Your EV’s battery life depends on where you live | SmartPlanet

Your EV’s battery life depends on where you live | SmartPlanet:

Turns out, according to the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy together with Pike Research, your battery life can fluctuate depending on where you live by up to five years.

As Pike Research specialist John Gartner wrote in a blog post last week, the lithium-ion battery packs found in electric vehicles exhibit the best performance and lifespan when kept at betweenn -10 and +30 degrees Celsius (that’s 14-86 degrees Fahrenheit).

Battery packs kept at temperatures higher or lower than that may underperform: at colder temperatures, the batteries may not reach full power; at higher temperatures, the battery can lose capacity.

While the 2012 Chevrolet Volt and the 2012 Tesla Model S use battery cooling technology, the Nissan Leaf does not, leaving it susceptible to such performance issues as a result of outside temperatures. It follows that a Nissan Leaf in Phoenix may lose 25 percent of its performance five to ten years earlier than the same car in Minneapolis, where summer temperatures are milder.

The lesson to prospective EV buyers? If you live in a state with hot summers, you may want to consider an EV that uses a battery cooling system

20120508 Taos Earthships | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

20120508 Taos Earthships | Flickr - Photo Sharing!:

'via Blog this'

interesting photo of an earthship in construction, it shows what must be thousands of glass bottles built into walls, spires, round buildings, in background some fine south facing glass facades for winter heat, wonder why they still slope the glass, would overheat so much in summer...

Clean Energy Future – Carbon price

Clean Energy Future – Carbon price:

The Australian model, from their government perspective

Australia's #carbonprice c

Twitter / SebHenbest: Australia's #carbonprice c:

http://www.metafilter.com/117468/carbon-pricing-for-Australia

Yesterday Australia joined many developed nations in putting a price on carbon pollution (fixed at $23/tonne CO2e for three years) (prev). Despite extensive compensation, this moderate economic reform has provedenormously unpopular ("based on a lie") and is expected to be repealed if/when the Federal Opposition are returned to government.
posted by wilful (83 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite