Working with the Mundiali team is not only a passionate joy but ongoing education for all of us, learning about renewable energy concepts, principles and processes. These are things we can’t keep silent about and therefore can’t wait to share with our clients. Many of these concepts have been in practice for thousands of years, perhaps a bit under the radar or out of range for us here in the States. Frankly, other countries are leaps and bounds ahead in leveraging many of these concepts; this is one of the reasons our CEO, Alex, selected a university outside of the States for his rigorous coursework in this field. When it comes to learning from top institutions about issues so critical to our planet’s future it would be foolish to be fenced in by artificial, political boundaries. After all, environmental changes and impacts don’t stop at border crossings.
So, what is Biochar? If you ask Wikipedia, Biochar is “...charcoal created by pyrolysis of biomass, a potent form of long-term (thousands of years) biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (C02) derived from investigation of the extremely fertile Terra Preta soils of the Amazon Basin.” Perhaps to put it more simply, Biochar is a type of charcoal used as a soil enhancer. And this is charcoal which is touted to be carbon negative. It presents an interesting alternative because the foundation for its use is in soil enhancement and biosequestration and it also boasts potential to be used as a gas or bio-oil for fuel and heating. [Bio-sequestration is the practice of mitigating excessive emissions of harmful Carbon back into our atmosphere.]
The Kyoto Protocol, founded in 1997, targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by setting binding (not voluntary) targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community. These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012. An increase in biomass usage - and therefore, Biochar - could aid in the reduction of these gas emissions.
We believe, as many scientists do, that organic waste can be a fuel of the future. Everything from crop residues to animal waste contains carbon, and when left on land or in a landfill it emits harmful carbon emissions. At Mundiali, we see a potential solution to mitigating these bad emissions through the process of pyrolysis, A by-product of pyrolysis is Biochar. Biochar, or Terra Preta (“black soil”) as best known in Brazil, has been used in the farming community in Latin America for thousands of years – a solid, proven best practice.
Biochar and the pyrolysis process are scalable and transferrable. Mundiali is interested in further research and development of Biochar for its multiple forms of use; this requires further studies and assessments, such as a Mundiali Risk Assessment – where environmental direct and indirect impacts are taken into account and studied. Or a Mundiali planning assessment, where we gain insight on how Biochar can be a profitable commodity.
We are actively seeking partnerships in our quest to develop real solutions to real problems facing our planet today.
