Facts about biochar-producing stove opportunity Was RE: [Biochar] Biochar Commercialization Needs and Possible Solutions

by (updated on )







Rick,

Here is an analysis of the costs, based on ONE stove, but the project must have at least 2000 households to be viable for the carbon financing.  Much of this info is in pages 21 – 27 in my white paper (link is in signature block).

 

                A.  1 Champion TLUD Stove, into a house,  US$40

                B.  Fuel costs of using the old stove ~$240/yr, but TLUD stove only needs ~$130, SAVINGS for family $110/yr.

                C.  Charcoal Biochar produced @ 20% by weight earns ~$40 per year for the family, paid by charcoal collection enterprise under contract. Collected every 28 days at each household.

                D.  Bulk charcoal sales are mainly to incense stick makers;  the collection business pays for the charcoal collection workers, handlers, and management while making a decent profit.

                E.  The carbon credit project continues to operate under an original POA with 2 ER (emission reduction) credits for the reduction of the fuel consumption and more 2 ER because the charcoal replaces burning  of traditional,
inefficiently produced charcoal (or coal).  Total of 4 ER that are verified annually (by official sampling methods under UNFCCC guidelines), which is an expense to the project owner who originally supplied the stove.

                F.  The 4 ER units are sold by contract as CER (Certified ER) at market prices that do go up and down.  That price info is private business knowledge unknown to me.    But the net pays off for the project owner within 2
or 3 years, including a payment for the  local project director of ~$10 per stove per year.   This project has now been renewed to its second seven-year period with only a $10 per stove “refurbishing” cost for the stove itself.

                G.  A professional LCA recently completed documents that the carbon  footprint of the stove manufacturing is canceled in one year.

                H.  Oh yes, what about the labor to make the biochar?   The lady of the house spends hours cooking and is not paid for that work.   Cooking is a major part of her life regardless of what stove she uses and how much charcoal
/ biochar she produces.

                I.   Is she happy?  Absolutely!   She made a deposit when she received the stove and she can have that money back if she desires, but she must give up the stove, which she will not do.   Why?   Lower cost of fuel; $40 per
year into HER pocket (husbands are not much involved, so this is women empowerment);  CLEANER burning (World Bank ESMAP classified TLUD stoves as Advance Clean Cooking) and that means cleaner  kitchen and cleaner air and better health.   And she is cooking
with GAS, that is, woodgas that is created in the stove while making the biochar.  Why would she give up those advantages?

                J.  Multiply that all by 100,000 stoves in use and you will see the scope of what a SMALL biochar production can accomplish.   In climate terms, it is serious carbon dioxide removal (CDR).  And the target for scale-up potential
is for 250,000,000 households (only half of the  500 million that are still cooking every day on traditional cookstoves).  

 

That answers your questions, I hope.   Now I have one more comment that I would like you and all readers to help to spread around until this message reaches the right person(s).

 

                K.  The needed actions and TLUD stoves are beyond the financial reach of the impoverished people that need assistance to have the world’s only CARBON NEGATIVE stove technology.  However, the necessary actions are within
the reach of any billionaire.   It would be highly appropriate for this female-focused project to have either or both Mackenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates as the patrons
for helping the world’s poorest women homemakers live better while fighting climate change. 

                This is truly about
“…helping people in the here and now – short term – at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact.”   (tweet by Jeff Bezos in 2017). 
I can provide many more details and answer any questions to help the ultra-wealthy to find out about this opportunity that is ready for immediate implementation.   Somebody knows how to reach them.  Please try. 

 

Paul

 

Doc / Dr TLUD / Paul S. Anderson, PhD

         Email:  psanders@ilstu.edu       Skype:   paultlud

         Phone:  Office: 309-452-7072    Mobile & WhatsApp: 309-531-4434

Websites:    https://woodgas.com see Resources for 1) biochar white paper, 2) RoCC kilns, and 3) the Quick Picks for TLUD stove technology.  The full DrTLUD.com website
is moving to woodgas.com .

                      https://capitalism21.org for societal reforms and free digital  novella “A Capitalist Carol”  with pages 88 – 94 about solving the world
crisis for clean cookstoves.

 

From: main@Biochar.groups.io <main@Biochar.groups.io&gt;
On Behalf Of Rick Wilson via groups.io

Sent: Monday, March 28, 2022 4:03 PM

To: main@biochar.groups.io

Subject: Re: [Biochar] Biochar Commercialization Needs and Possible Solutions

 

This message originated from outside of the Illinois State University email system.

Learn why this is important

Paul, would you be able to share your plant model showing this pencils out economically?

 

This would include feedstock acquisition costs, operating and maintenance costs, staffing costs, capital principal and interest, etc.

 

Best,

Rick

On Mar 28, 2022, at 1:59 PM, Paul S Anderson <psanders@ilstu.edu> wrote:

 

I  totally agree with Gordon’s comment.   Small size units such as cookstoves and mid-size units such as for heating a school or apartment complex, when in large numbers, can have awesome impact and therefore should be not be denigrated,
but should have equal standing with large-scale systems.  

 

For example, please read pages 21 – 27 in Section XII of my white paper on “Climate Intervention with Biochar” about biochar-producing (TLUD) cookstoves.  

 

As a real-world example, there are now 100,000 Champion natural draft TLUD stoves in West Bengal, India, where very impoverished women are producing 80 tonnes of charcoal / biochar PER DAY, which is over 29,000 t of charcoal / biochar per
year.   Using the 1: 2.5 ratio of C: CO2, that is 200 t CO2e removed long term per day.   or 72,500 t CO2e per year.    [However, this charcoal / biochar is REQUIRED to be sold for burning, mainly in incense sticks, because of carbon credit rules.   But future
projects can be with CDR and have much more cash flow.]

 

And it can scale up by multiple orders of magnitude to at least 300 million tonnes per year, with multiple SDG benefits for the impoverished families that are doing their daily cooking.  

 

I will gladly answer any questions.  We are seeking seed funding for scale up as CDR.  

 

Paul

 

Doc / Dr TLUD / Paul S. Anderson, PhD 

         Email:  psanders@ilstu.edu       Skype:   paultlud

         Phone:  Office: 309-452-7072    Mobile & WhatsApp: 309-531-4434

Websites:    https://woodgas.com see
Resources for 1) biochar white paper, 2) RoCC kilns, and 3) the Quick Picks for TLUD stove technology.  The full DrTLUD.com website
is moving to woodgas.com .

                      https://capitalism21.org for
societal reforms and free digital  novella “A Capitalist Carol”  with pages 88 – 94 about solving the world crisis for clean cookstoves. 

 

From: main@Biochar.groups.io <main@Biochar.groups.io> On
Behalf Of Gordon West via groups.io

Sent: Monday, March 28, 2022 7:57 AM

To: main@biochar.groups.io

Subject: Re: [Biochar] Biochar Commercialization Needs and Possible Solutions

 

This message originated from outside of the Illinois State University email system. Learn
why this is important

That’s an excellent summary of the points made. 

 

There is one that I believe is incorrect and (should be removed) that is in conflict with many of the others, particularly items regarding circular economies:

 

“Large scale systems are needed. Cost/benefit of small-scale systems is prohibitive. Offtakers seek large systems”.      

 

Our work shows that well-designed small scale, highly distributed biochar+energy (primarily heat) systems have a much better benefit/cost ratio with far more potential benefits, including financial profitability and lower CapX, than concentrated,
large-scale industrial operations. They can scale to any size, do it incrementally, with the heat users bearing much of the cost. The fundamental difference is that the business model is not convenient for privately owned corporate style enterprises – as a
community system it is more complex to develop (partly because of the inclusion of an array of non-monetized benefit objectives) and needs to be nurtured into existence,
just like healthy soil. 

 

It can be easily argued that the private mega-industrial mindset is what created the problems we are now desperately trying to fix. 

 

I learned about 40 years ago that most environmental issues arise from a “law” called cumulative effects. It occurred to me then that solutions to environmental problems aren’t to be found
in silver bullet monumental technological cures – the solutions will be in a shift to practices resulting in positive cumulative effects. This is the principle that supports Trollworks’ advocacy for community solutions (where large numbers of ordinary
people participate) – the co-op model seems to be a good mechanism for doing that.

                                                                                                                                            

Gordon West

The Trollworks

503 North E Street

Silver City, NM 88061

575-537-3689

 

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. 

To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.”  

– R. Buckminster Fuller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Mar 27, 2022, at 12:54 PM, Tom Miles <tmiles@trmiles.com> wrote:

 

              Large scale systems are needed. Cost/benefit of small-scale systems is prohibitive. Offtakers seek large systems.                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

 

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