![]() ![]() “We’re looking at it with an equity lens to make sure that we see the primary benefits of a government facility going towards equity purposes,” he stated. And while the location is currently being finalized, the city is looking to start production in the second quarter next year, Doten said. The city’s new production facility will ultimately turn local wood waste into biochar. In 2014, the city entered a memorandum of understanding with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community to provide biochar to at-risk communities in the city. “Because we’re with the health department, we’re trying to find ways to help out places where we see health inequities, which line up really well with environmental justice,” he explained, detailing that the city has identified “green zones” - or areas in the community that face the combined impact of environmental, political and economic marginalization - to focus this work. Through various uses, the city worked to use biochar to combat public health inequities and environmental justice issues, like using it in community gardens to improve food access. Doten said he was introduced to biochar’s potential while in Afghanistan with the U.S. ![]() The city’s previous experience with biochar originated with Jim Doten, the city’s carbon sequestration program manager. To this point, the city has had to acquire the product from a manufacturer for various applications in the community - ranging from urban agriculture to use in transportation corridors. With the investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the city plans to build a production facility capable of harnessing the heat created in the process. Minneapolis has been working with biochar since 2013 but has not been producing it. Gustafsson said that the city of Stockholm has benefited from the circular economy model that turns waste into a resource. Mattias Gustafsson was the project manager of the Stockholm Biochar Project and is a biochar specialist and partner at EcoTopic, which he co-founded. The carbon dioxide sequestration that occurs through this process can help in the fight against climate change. Notably, during the conversion process from biomass to biochar, heat and power are generated as a clean and renewable energy source. ![]() There are many possible uses for biochar. ![]()
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