My Clean Break column/feature today takes a look at growing interest in the use of pyrolysis technology to covert wood, agricultural and municipal solid waste into gas (methane/hydrogen), bio “oil”, and char. The idea is that the gas and bio oil produced could be used as a renewable source of carbon-neutral energy, while the char or “biochar” could be buried in topsoil as a form of carbon sequestration that’s also carbon negative.

Using the char in soil goes back hundreds of years to the Amazon Basin, where pockets of carbon-rich black earth known as terra preta can be found throughout the region. Scientists have long studied the benefits that char brings to soil, such as enhanced water retention and nutrient absorption. It has also been shown that char can revive depleted soils and improve the growth of crops. But another benefit is that the char itself is packed with carbon and is resistant to chemical breakdown (i.e. decay), meaning it acts as a form of carbon storage for hundreds, potentially thousands of years. Scientists are now looking at this secondary benefit in the context of Kyoto and perhaps as a way to sequester carbon for carbon credits and at the same time improve soil so that reforestation and new agriculture can be more easily pursued (thus expanding the world’s carbon sink).

I’ll let you read the article for more details. The bottom line is that this could be more affordable than geological sequestration, easier to implement (particularly on a local scale), could prove an easier way to calculate carbon credits, and has the added benefit of improving the world’s soils. Last month scientists gathered in Australia for the first International Agrichar Initiative conference to discuss ways of advancing this approach. Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers, was a keynote speaker at the conference and is reportedly a big supporter of biochar sequestration.

It’s certainly an area worth more study, particularly by the handful of Canadian companies that have become experts in pyrolysis, including Dynamotive, Advanced Biorefinery and Agri-THERM.

For a great overview, Prof. Johannes Lehmann of Cornell University has this excellent commentary in a recent issue of Nature.

This New York Times article about a U.S. businessman who gives out solar-powered flashlights in Africa demonstrates again the potential of solar technology when combined cleverly with energy storage. This is in no way a groundbreaking product, and it’s not going to save the world from global warming, but this simple device goes a long way toward solving many problems in refugee camps and small villages with no access to light during the evening. The flashlight, which charges during the day and can last a whole night, provides security against thieves and animals and allows nighttime activities — anything from reading to just plain socializing. It’s nice to see such simplicity have such an impact. Hat tip to my buddy Mark Evans for pointing this out.

I have a story in today’s Toronto Star about plans to build another three large solar farms in Ontario, adding to the four 10-megawatt projects that were announced last month by California-based OptiSolar Inc.

OptiSolar Farms Canada, the local subsidiary, is building another two 10-megawatt farms in Petrolia, Ontario, home of North America’s first commercial oil well. It’s about half an hour away from Sarnia, where the first four farms were announced. This brings OptiSolar’s announcements to 69 megawatts, and another 10-megawatt farm is planned for Sarnia and another at another location is being announced within the next month. OptiSolar hinted that total announced projects could reach 100 megawatts.

Meanwhile, SkyPower Corp. of Toronto and Balitmore-based SunEdison LLC announced the first of several solar farms planned for Ontario under their joint venture. A 9.12 megawatt farm is being built in Norfolk County in southwestern Ontario, and should be complete sometime in 2008. SkyPower has committed to building at least 50 megawatts of farms, possibly much more.

It’s quite amazing really that Ontario, a laggard in the solar market a year ago, is suddenly one of the fastest growing markets in the world. This is because of the provincial government’s standard offer program, which pays a premium of 42 cents per kilowatt-hour for solar power. Now, announcements are one thing — we’ll have to wait and see if these projects actually get built.

Curious, even at 42 cents the economics of these projects are bound to be tough. OptiSolar, which is manufacturing and installing the panels and operating/owning the solar farms has a vertical structure, so it saves costs down the supply chain. Plus, it’s betting it can manufacture its thin-film solar panels at much lower cost than rivals, and it sees Ontario as a showcase for its product. I’m less clear of the SkyPower/SunEdison model, but obviously these folks have crunched the numbers and are satisfied with the level of risk and return on investment.

As I’ve said before, interesting times.

RuggedCom, a maker of ruggedized networking devices for the power sector, has announced plans to list publicly on the Toronto Stock Exchange and filed its preliminary prospectus on the proposed offering. This Toronto-area company has been dubbed the “Cisco of the smart grid” because its products enable the move toward an electricity system that is automated, self-healing and, ultimately, intelligent. Specifically, RuggedCom develops ethernet switches and routers that can handle the two-way flow of immense amounts of data, and at the same time operate reliably in harsh environments where high-voltage power spikes and extreme temperatures can render standard networking equipment useless or unreliable. I wrote about RuggedCom in the Star last August.

The company is growing like wildfire, as you’ll see from the prospectus, and it’s highly profitable, making it a great candidate for an IPO. It’s good to see.

The drive toward plug-in hybrid vehicles just got more interesting. Next-generation battery leader A123Systems introduced today its 32-series lithium ion cells, designed specifically for use in plug-in hybrid cars. The “Automotive Class” cells deliver 10-plus years and 150,000-mile project life as required from engineered automotive battery packs. With “greater volumetric energy density and the lowest cost per watt-hour,” the new cells are expected to be used in the first generation of plug-in hybrids produced by the big automakers. “By making it possible for manufacturers to design HEVs and PHEVs with attractive performance, reliability and safety, as well as an overall lower systems cost, we are able to play a significant role in speeding the market’s acceptance of highly fuel-efficient vehicles,” said A123 president and CEO David Vieau.

The race is on.