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Posted Sat Mar 14 2009: from London Guardian:
'Biochar' goes industrial with giant microwaves to lock carbon in charcoal http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1237056217
Giant microwave ovens that can "cook" wood into charcoal could become our best tool in the fight against global warming, according to a leading British climate scientist. Chris Turney, a professor of geography at the University of Exeter, said that by burying the charcoal produced from microwaved wood, the carbon dioxide absorbed by a tree as it grows can remain safely locked away for thousands of years. The technique could take out billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year. Fast-growing trees such as pine could be "farmed" to act specifically as carbon traps — microwaved, buried and replaced with a fresh crop to do the same thing again. Turney has built a 5m-long prototype of his microwave, which produces a tonne of CO2 for $65. He plans to launch his company, Carbonscape, in the UK this month to build the next generation of the machine, which he hopes will process more wood and cut costs further.
[Read more stories about: carbon sequestration, technological innovation, technical cleverness]

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'Doc Michael says:
If the pines are okay with this... I'm all for it!

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  • ('Biochar' goes industrial with giant microwaves to lock carbon in charcoal)
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