Biochar Usage and Certification: Industry Perspective and Challenges.

Cool Planet Energy Systems is a 4 year old start-up with biochar R&D facilities located in Camarillo, CA. Our mission is to commercialize biochar on a global scale with the ultimate aim of decreasing global carbon dioxide levels. Our focus markets are high value agriculture, horticulture and remediation. From an economic perspective, growers seek to maximize yields, increase speed of food production while producing quality produce, minimize water costs, minimize fertilizer costs, and minimize application and labor costs. Biochar usage can address these needs by increasing plant yields while minimizing nutrient and water inputs. We will offer our perspectives on the challenges involved in biochar commercialization, including large scale production, overcoming customer ignorance and skepticism, certification challenges domestically and internationally, as well as application method challenges. We will outline areas where soil science research can clarify the benefits of biochar.