| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 66.49 |
| Liaison | Ezra Small |
| Submission Date | July 29, 2011 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of Massachusetts Amherst
IN-3: Innovation 3
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Elena
Sharnoff Director of Communications, CNS College of Natural Sciences |
A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
UMass Amherst has been actively exploring the possibilities of utilizing biochar, a form of carbon prepared by heating biomass in limited air (pyrolysis) which serves as a soil "permanent" additive, stabilizing soil, promoting growth and acting to store CO2 in the soil. Biochar could be a useful tool in slowing global climate change.
In Spring 2009, UMass Amherst sponsored a conference, the Northeast Biochar Symposium, and followed up this effort with a weekly series, the Climate, Energy, Biochar, & Agriculture Seminar Series, during the 2011 spring semester, sponsored by the UMASS Center for Agriculture and the Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences.
Biochar acts to be "carbon negative" in that CO2 is removed from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and is retained temporarily as biomass growth, upon pyrolysis this carbon is returned to the soil in an inert form where it may remain for centuries. It has been referred to as "coal mining in reverse".
While biochar is not a new technique, it has recently been reexamined as a way of addressing global climate change, and UMass Amherst is in the forefront of exploring the local and global implications of this exciting process.
A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise:
The website URL where information about the innovation is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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