A comprehensive book on basic processes of soil C dynamics and the underlying factors and causes which determine the technical and economic potential of soil C sequestration. The book provides information on the dynamics of both inorganic (lithogenic and pedogenic carbonates) and organic C (labile, intermediate and passive). It describes different types of agroecosystems, and lists questions at the end of each chapter to stimulate thinking and promote academic dialogue. Each chapter has a bibliography containing up-to-date references on the current research, and provides the state-of-the-knowledge while also identifying the knowledge gaps for future research. The critical need for restoring C stocks in world soils is discussed in terms of provisioning of essential ecosystem services (food security, carbon sequestration, water quality and renewability, and biodiversity). It is of interest to students, scientists, and policy makers.
A comprehensive book on basic processes of soil C dynamics and the underlying factors and causes which determine the technical and economic potential of soil C sequestration. The book provides information on the dynamics of both inorganic (lithogenic and pedogenic carbonates) and organic C (labile, intermediate and passive). It describes different types of agroecosystems, and lists questions at the end of each chapter to stimulate thinking and promote academic dialogue. Each chapter has a bibliography containing up-to-date references on the current research, and provides the state-of-the-knowledge while also identifying the knowledge gaps for future research. The critical need for restoring C stocks in world soils is discussed in terms of provisioning of essential ecosystem services (food security, carbon sequestration, water quality and renewability, and biodiversity). It is of interest to students, scientists, and policy makers.
Soil Carbon Storage: Modulators, Mechanisms and Modeling takes a novel approach to the issue of soil carbon storage by considering soil C sequestration as a function of the interaction between biotic (e.g. microbes and plants) and abiotic (climate, soil types, management practices) modulators as a key driver of soil C. These modulators are central to C balance through their processing of C from both plant inputs and native soil organic matter. This book considers this concept in the light of state-of-the-art methodologies that elucidate these interactions and increase our understanding of a vitally important, but poorly characterized component of the global C cycle. The book provides soil scientists with a comprehensive, mechanistic, quantitative and predictive understanding of soil carbon storage. It presents a new framework that can be included in predictive models and management practices for better prediction and enhanced C storage in soils. - Identifies management practices to enhance storage of soil C under different agro-ecosystems, soil types and climatic conditions - Provides novel conceptual frameworks of biotic (especially microbial) and abiotic data to improve prediction of simulation model at plot to global scale - Advances the conceptual framework needed to support robust predictive models and sustainable land management practices
To achieve goals for climate and economic growth, "negative emissions technologies" (NETs) that remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the air will need to play a significant role in mitigating climate change. Unlike carbon capture and storage technologies that remove carbon dioxide emissions directly from large point sources such as coal power plants, NETs remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or enhance natural carbon sinks. Storing the carbon dioxide from NETs has the same impact on the atmosphere and climate as simultaneously preventing an equal amount of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Recent analyses found that deploying NETs may be less expensive and less disruptive than reducing some emissions, such as a substantial portion of agricultural and land-use emissions and some transportation emissions. In 2015, the National Academies published Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration, which described and initially assessed NETs and sequestration technologies. This report acknowledged the relative paucity of research on NETs and recommended development of a research agenda that covers all aspects of NETs from fundamental science to full-scale deployment. To address this need, Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda assesses the benefits, risks, and "sustainable scale potential" for NETs and sequestration. This report also defines the essential components of a research and development program, including its estimated costs and potential impact.
This book is divided in two sections. Several chapters in the first section provide a state-of-the-art review of various carbon sinks for CO2 sequestration such as soil and oceans. Other chapters discuss the carbon sequestration achieved by storage in kerogen nanopores, CO2 miscible flooding and generation of energy efficient solvents for postcombustion CO2 capture. The chapters in the second section focus on monitoring and tracking of CO2 migration in various types of storage sites, as well as important physical parameters relevant to sequestration. Both researchers and students should find the material useful in their work.
This compilation of techniques, methodologies and scientific data arises from a four-year Italian research project, which took place at university research stations in Turin, Piacenza, Naples and Potenza. Soil Organic Matter (SOM) represents an active and essential pool of the total organic carbon on the planet. Consequently, even small changes in this SOM carbon pool may have a significant impact on the concentration of atmospheric CO2. Recent new understanding of the chemical nature of SOM indicates that innovative and sustainable technologies may be applied to sequester carbon in agricultural soils. Overall results of the project have been applied to develop an innovative model for the prediction and description, both quantitatively and qualitatively, of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils. This book provides experts in different areas of soil science with a complete picture of the effects of new soil management methods and their potentials for practical application in farm management.
Interest in biochar among soil and environment researchers has increased dramatically over the past decade. Biochar initially attracted attention for its potential to improve soil fertility and to uncouple the carbon cycle, by storing carbon from the atmosphere in a form that can remain stable for hundreds to thousands of years. Later it was found that biochar had applications in environmental and water science, mining, microbial ecology and other fields. Beneficial effects of biochar and its environmental applications cannot be fully realised unless the chemical, physical, structural and surface properties of biochar are known. Currently many of the analytical procedures used for biochar analysis are not well defined, which makes it difficult to choose the right biochar for an intended use and to compare the existing data for biochars. Also, in some instances the use of inappropriate procedures has led to erroneous or inaccurate values for biochars in the scientific literature. Biochar: A Guide to Analytical Methods fills this gap and provides procedures and guidelines for routine and advanced characterisation of biochars. Written by experts, each chapter provides background to a technique or procedure, a stepwise guide to analyses, and includes data for biochars made from a range of feedstocks common to all presented methods. Discussion about the unique features, advantages and disadvantages of a particular technique is an explicit focus of this handbook for biochar analyses. Biochar is primarily intended for researchers, postgraduate students and practitioners who require knowledge of biochar properties. It will also serve as an important resource for researchers, industry and regulatory agencies dealing with biochar.
The most complete, nonpartisan source of information on this hot agronomic topic available today, this book brings together a diverse group of papers and data to resolve the debate between sedimentologists and soil scientists and agronomists over whether the effects of soil erosion on carbon and atmospheric CO2 is beneficial or destructive. Divided into four sections, it offers data on how soil erosion affects soil, water, and air quality. Topics include mineralization rate, inundation, sediment deposition, and global warming potential, as well as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions, and the implications of soil erosion on the global carbon cycle and carbon budget.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been considered as a practical way in sequestering the huge anthropogenic CO2 amount with a reasonable cost until a more pragmatic solution appears. The CCS can work as a bridge before fulfilling the no-CO2 era of the future by applying to large-scale CO2 emitting facilities. But CCS appears to lose some passion by the lack of progress in technical developments and in commercial success stories other than EOR. This is the time to go back to basics, starting from finding a solution in small steps. The CCS technology desperately needs far newer ideas and breakthroughs that can overcome earlier attempts through improving, modifying, and switching the known principles. This book tries to give some insight into developing an urgently needed technical breakthrough through the recent advances in CCS research, in addition to the available small steps like soil carbon sequestration. This book provides the fundamental and practical information for researchers and graduate students who want to review the current technical status and to bring in new ideas to the conventional CCS technologies.
With carbon farming, agriculture ceases to be part of the climate problem and becomes a critical part of the solution "This book is the toolkit for making the soil itself a sponge for carbon. It’s a powerful vision."—Bill McKibben "The Carbon Farming Solution is a book we will look back upon decades from now and wonder why something so critically relevant could have been so overlooked until that time. . . . [It] describes the foundation of the future of civilization."—Paul Hawken In this groundbreaking book, Eric Toensmeier argues that agriculture—specifically, the subset of practices known as "carbon farming"—can, and should be, a linchpin of a global climate solutions platform. Carbon farming is a suite of agricultural practices and crops that sequester carbon in the soil and in above-ground biomass. Combined with a massive reduction in fossil fuel emissions—and in concert with adaptation strategies to our changing environment— carbon farming has the potential to bring us back from the brink of disaster and return our atmosphere to the "magic number" of 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Toensmeier’s book is the first to bring together these powerful strategies in one place. Includes in-depth analysis of the available research. Carbon farming can take many forms. The simplest practices involve modifications to annual crop production. Although many of these modifications have relatively low sequestration potential, they are widely applicable and easily adopted, and thus have excellent potential to mitigate climate change if practiced on a global scale. Likewise, grazing systems such as silvopasture are easily replicable, don’t require significant changes to human diet, and—given the amount of agricultural land worldwide that is devoted to pasture—can be important strategies in the carbon farming arsenal. But by far, agroforestry practices and perennial crops present the best opportunities for sequestration. While many of these systems are challenging to establish and manage, and would require us to change our diets to new and largely unfamiliar perennial crops, they also offer huge potential that has been almost entirely ignored by climate crusaders. Many of these carbon farming practices are already implemented globally on a scale of millions of hectares. These are not minor or marginal efforts, but win-win solutions that provide food, fodder, and feedstocks while fostering community self-reliance, creating jobs, protecting biodiversity, and repairing degraded land—all while sequestering carbon, reducing emissions, and ultimately contributing to a climate that will remain amenable to human civilization. Just as importantly to a livable future, these crops and practices can contribute to broader social goals such as women’s empowerment, food sovereignty, and climate justice. The Carbon Farming Solution is—at its root—a toolkit and the most complete collection of climate-friendly crops and practices currently available. With this toolkit, farmers, communities, and governments large and small, can successfully launch carbon farming projects with the most appropriate crops and practices to their climate, locale, and socioeconomic needs. Toensmeier’s ultimate goal is to place carbon farming firmly in the center of the climate solutions platform, alongside clean solar and wind energy. With The Carbon Farming Solution, Toensmeier wants to change the discussion, impact policy decisions, and steer mitigation funds to the research, projects, and people around the world who envision a future where agriculture becomes the protagonist in this fraught, urgent, and unprecedented drama of our time. Citizens, farmers, and funders will be inspired to use the tools presented in this important book to transform degraded lands around the world into productive carbon-storing landscapes.
