Haiti: Biochar Solutions for Post-quake Rebuild
TreeHugger reports that biochar may get a boost during Haiti’s rebuild:
While pilot biochar sequestration and crop improvement projects abound, in Haiti a small number of activists including World Stoves CEO Nathaniel Mulcahy, got in gear post earthquake to help the country rebuild and grow and cook its own food, and at the same time, show off biochar’s winning qualities.
Biochar, the co-product of burning wood or agricultural waste in a pyrolitic (oxygen free) environment, has a checkered history as a CO2 sequestration tool. One of its primary benefits, however, is flexibility. Biochar stoves enable the use of many forms of biomass for energy and the remaining biochar can be used to improve soil fertility.
WorldStoves is partnering with International Lifeline Fund and a private Haitian company to make and distribute 2,000 pyrolitic stoves to the country, struggling to rebuild nearly two months after a 7.0 earthquake destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.
The primary goal is to distribute the stoves to the hospitals, schools, orphanages, and camps that have sprung up around Port-Au-Prince.
