Source Diagram: http://www.slideshare.net/saibhaskar/natural-resource-management-approaches-incorporating-disaster-risk-reduction?ref=http://www.linkedin.com/profile/pub/sai-bhaskar-reddy-nakka/13/889/448?goback
What is Biochar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar
Pyrolysis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrolysis
Terra-Preta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta
Historic basis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YS8I6AZRfg
At last, after six long years of research and exploration, there is a glimmer of hope that a number of significant investors in sectors of Tasmanian primary industry – especially in aquaculture and pastoralism – are willing to break the chains of the dominant economic paradigms which have curbed the capacity for independent initiative and enterprise for many years.
The main issue in this nascent paradigm shift is an increasing interest in marrying economic efficiencies with environmental sustainability through businesses gaining ownership of ways and means to achieve this by direct investment in cutting-edge technologies. There is an increasing interest in some sectors of the regional economy to break away from the siloed thinking which allows, for example, the existence side by side of a fish farm with a sewage outlet. There is an increasing interest, for example, in breaking the nexus between increasing costs of power and energy infrastructure investment and maintenance of profitability, even viability, by looking to direct investment in long-term alternative options.
In this context, it now appears likely that one large business, or a consortium of businesses, will fund a unique study program in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium in August-September this year to investigate how carbon technologies are being implemented and already being used in practical ways in rural and regional economies. The perceived benefits are multi-faceted, from decreasing dependence on the state-controlled power grid, to the use of carbon in stock and fish food to increase productivity, to the implementation of mass-composting programs to maintain and improve soil health and improve water quality.
The importance of this initiative therefore lies in its potential to reshape the way that rural enterprises can operate into the future – setting the standards beyond political and bureaucratic short-sightedness, running ahead of all that and setting an agenda with clear air which leave regulations in their wake as so much mediocre flotsam.
It is unfortunate that all levels of government at present are ignoring the proven economic, environmental and social benefits inherent in pyrolysis technology. One pressing example of this is the way that the problem of raw sewage contamination of waterways, such as the Tamar River, is being approached. Instead of investigating options which have been successfully applied internationally, options which can actually generate income for local communities indefinitely into the future and solve massive waste disposal problems at the same time, the current allocation of public funds is designed to imitate entrenched models from the past, copying what has always been done because that’s the way it’s always been done.
One important logic of the new carbon technologies is that they are based on fundamental and well understood principles of recycling, principles which have been applied by rural economies through time immemorial, but which are now being applied using modern technical, engineering and scientific expertise in a variety of location-specific circumstances and contexts. It is also a technology which can be applied on a very small scale, at individual farm level for example, or at a much more sophisticated level involving large cities.
In the current Tasmanian environment, given the reluctance or inbuilt incapacity of the political system to do other than repeat the past, it can only be hoped that those enterprises which are currently investigating the benefits and opportunities associated with pyrolysis investment are able to provide a lead which others can follow. It will only take one or two key businesses to take ownership themselves through private investment, to create a flow-on effect.
There is a mass of detailed information about the new carbon technology and how it is being used on both a small scale and large scale in European countries and elsewhere. There is a large and growing scientific literature about pyrolysis and its possible applications, from the production of electricity to trapping herbicide and pesticide residues in soils to prevent them entering the food chain, to its use in trapping waste nutrients from fish farms. The technology offers practical means and enhanced opportunities for restoration of degraded landscapes and for rehabilitation of industrial sites.
The significance of private investment in pyrolysis technologies is its capacity to provide a lead to others, not only in the private sector but in the broader arena of public infrastructure development.
Individuals and enterprises who wish to know more about the opportunities which are being made available by the introduction of pyrolysis technologies can do so quite easily by having a look at the series of links provided via the updated comments on Tasmanian Times. Those who wish to get a more thorough appreciation of local interest (in Tasmania) and/or wish to become corporate sponsors to bring this initiative to the next level, that of implementation in some sectors of Tasmanian rural industry, should contact Frank Strie.
Terra-Preta Developments
Schwabenforest P/L
[email protected]
63944395; 0417312927
*Frank Strie is a Master Forester, who is an expert on bio-char.
• Meanwhile, Youtube: Man invents machine to convert plastic into oil
