Users of the tools can select and apply a multitude of geographic data layers including a variety of biomass feedstocks, existing biofuels, biopower and traditional power plants, alternative and traditional fueling stations and energy use statistics. The BioPower updated functionalities include query, analysis and state view.  The query function allows users to access data behind the map and to select and download data from a selected region or single point on the map.

The analysis function offers common conversion factors that allow users to determine the potential biopower or biofuels production for selected feedstocks in a specific area. The state view function provides biofuels data from a single state including summaries of state energy use and fueling infrastructure and resources.  The state view function is available in the BioFuels Atlas now, and a similar function, specific to biopower data, will be available in the BioPower tool later this year.

The BioEnergy Atlas is accessible at http://maps.nrel.gov/bioenergyatlas.

More on the story.

Nick Grant , co-author of ‘The Green Electricity Illusion said, “There is a lot of confusion around, with people mixing up the terms renewable, sustainable and low carbon. We need to take a step back from the seemingly endless arguments about the definition of zero carbon, and ask ourselves – what are we really trying to do here? I believe when you do this, it is clear that we need to go back to the simple principle of using less energy, in whatever form.”

Download the complete report.

More on the story.

More on the story.

Combustion of fuels produced by pyrolysis at Mississippi State University

Biochar could solve a significant piece of the climate problem – 12 percent of CO2 emissions – according to a study published last week in Nature Communications.

The study estimated CO2 mitigation potential from sustainably-produced biochar that would not endanger – and could actually enhance – food security, habitat and soil conservation.

The authors conclude that turning biomass waste into biochar could be more effective in mitigating climate change than using it to produce biofuels, which could mitigate 10 percent of CO2 emissions compared to biochar’s 12 percent, although they note that the climate benefits of biofuel vs biochar can vary by region. It is also significant that the biochar production process allows the choice of diverting some of the syngas biomass carbon to biofuels, while sequestering the rest.

Biochar is produced through a process called pyrolysis: heating waste biomass at low temperatures with very little oxygen to produce a char. The biochar is a stable form of carbon that sequesters the CO2 that plant biomass would normally release when decomposing.

Besides helping fight climate change, biochar can also be used a soil amendment in programs to enrich soils lacking in nutrients for food production.

“Biochar is a winning climate strategy that policymakers need to start supporting now to start drawing down excess CO2 that is on the verge of pushing the climate system past the tipping point for irreversible climate changes,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.

CO2, unlike other well mixed greenhouse gases, does not break down in the atmosphere. Its natural removal depends upon the absorption and eventual sequestration in the oceans or land as part of the natural carbon cycle. Approximately 65% of emitted CO2 is removed from the atmosphere within a hundred years through fast equalization with the oceans and biosphere.

The remainder stays trapped until drawn down through much slower processes with an additional 15-30% being removed over the next 5,000 years, and the remaining ~10% after 400,000 to a million years. This very long lifetime makes it essential to develop and deploy “climate negative” technologies, starting with biochar, to draw down CO2 on a timescale of decades to a century or less, to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate impacts.

“Time is short – unfortunately, even with aggressive cuts in CO2 emissions, we will not see significant cooling for a very long time, likely centuries. To avoid rising temperatures pushing us beyond the tipping points for irreversible impacts, we need biochar and other carbon-negative strategies,” added Zaelke.

More on the story.

More on the story.

There are two proposed rounds of applications. The deadlines are Nov. 1, 2010, and March 31, 2011.

The study explored emissions in three areas of China and compared the sulphate concentration. Black-carbon-induced warming is dependent on the concentration of sulphate and organic aerosols—which reflect solar radiation and cool the surface.

More on the story.