The problem with turning "crop waste" into non-biodegradable charcoal and burying it, is that there is very little true crop waste. Removing unused portions of plants that are normally plowed under increases the need for nitrogen fertilizers, which release the most potent greenhouse gas of all: nitrous oxide. Much of the residual crop biomass must be returned to the soil to maintain topsoil integrity, otherwise the rate of topsoil erosion will increase dramatically. If we mine our topsoil for energy we will end up committing slow agricultural suicide like the Mayan Empire.
SEE http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/542626/ I hope the extreme global warming theories and predictions are wrong. If they are true, then we are doomed. Even if you used the charcoal scheme, you would still have to use nuclear energy to eliminate fossil fuel emissions. It's not an either-or proposition. Christopher Calder --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
