The WESS program will hold an open house on Friday, August 31, 2012, from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, at the Magoon Research Station, 2717 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu (across from the Mānoa Public Library). The purpose of the open hourse is to present WESS research investigating the effect of biochar-amended soils on plant growth. After light pupus and an overview of the WESS program, presentations will be made by Jerry Ericsson and Jonathan Deenik. Mr. Ericsson is President of Diacarbon Energy, Inc., a Canadian biochar company. Dr. Deenik is an Associate Specialist in Soil Fertivity and Soil Quality.
The open house will then move into the greenhouse for close-up inspection and further discussions. Off-site visits to WESS-funded field crop trials (directed by Dr. Richard Ogoshi, Associate Biofuel Agronomist) will be possible. These trials will characterize crop growth on biochar-amended soils.
For those interested, a short walk will lead to the UH campus for a visit to the demonstration-scale Flash Carbonization™ reactor, after the greenhouse visit (~4:30 pm). Dr. Michael Antal, an HNEI researcher and inventor of the Flash Carbonization™ process, provides the WESS program with small quantities of boutique biochars for application greenhouse trials. Details concerning this process can be seen on the Biocarbons (overview) section of our website.
For more program details, see the WESS brochure and the Water, Energy and Soil Sustainability (WESS) section of our website. Contact Dr. Michael Cooney, HNEI Associate Researcher and PI for the program, for additional information.
