Turning Plants into Charcoal Cuts Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Converting plant material into biochar–a type of charcoal–could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12 percent a year, according to a new analysis published in Nature Communications. The study concludes that in most cases, this is a better use of biomass than burning it in power plants.
The process of making biochar involves exposing biomass to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. This produces oil, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide–all of which can be made into biofuels–as well as biochar, which can be applied to cropland as a fertilizer. And because biochar traps carbon, the process is a way to sequester carbon dioxide, offsetting carbon dioxide emissions.
The article is publicly available here. Researchers have been making the case for biochar for years, although some argue that other approaches to reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere could have a bigger effect.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora
The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.
Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.
Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.
This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language
A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.