There have been several articles in Greenhouse Canada over the past few years about "biochar" (October 2009, March 2012, etc). If you missed those, biochar is defined simply as "charcoal that is used for agricultural purposes." It is created by the pyrolysis of biomass - in other words, basically "cooking" wood in the absence of oxygen. The really neat thing is that once the pyrolysis reaction has begun, it is self-sustaining, requiring no extra outside energy input. In addition, there are other useful byproducts of the process including minor quantities of methane (CH_4), tars, organic acids and excess heat.
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