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Sort of. Charcoal is made from wood; the released carbon was generally extracted from the atmosphere by the tree. To parent's point, in pre-industrial and ear
by amalcon 5y ago
Sort of. Charcoal is made from wood; the released carbon was generally extracted from the atmosphere by the tree.
To parent's point, in pre-industrial and early-industrial times, most of this would have come from pre-existing trees cut for the purpose. This will prematurely release that carbon. If it had come from farmed trees, like it might today, then it could be net zero with respect to CO2 over the whole cycle. The "could" is important there, as the process of turning wood into charcoal doesn't need to be carbon neutral (though it probably could be).
- Robotbeat 5y agoIt’s worth pointing out that I live in an area where pre-industrial times had all the trees cut down, and it’s full of dense trees now, so all the CO2 released by that charcoal has been recaptured. Even non-sustainably-harvested biomass can regenerate about 6 orders of magnitude faster than fossil fuels do… Fast growing trees could regenerate in 10-20 years. Crops can regenerate in a few months to a year. (Ignoring regeneration time can screw up return on energy calculations, BTW…) I think relying primarily on biomass for energy is a bad idea, but for that last few percent, it’s not bad.