Comments on: How to Make Charcoal a la Arnold…

By: kurzhaar

kurzhaar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:34:28 +0000

Tin, I am a scientist by training. The reporter either misreported the quote, or the person quoted as saying that this “green charcoal” only releases hydrogen and not carbon dioxide is just plain WRONG. Sorry, but you CANNOT combust or oxidize organic (carbon-based) material to hydrogen in order to produce heat. That is a physical impossibility, like a perpetual motion machine.

By: Tin

Tin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:26:20 +0000

Kurzhaar, I learned about it from this article- https://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleid=407491 It did not elaborate on the process but it seems reliable.

By: kurzhaar

kurzhaar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:17:15 +0000

Tin, I would be extremely skeptical of this claim–if this is organic (carbon-containing) material made from water lilies, I can’t see how you could combust this to hydrogen. Hydrogen (gas) is not a product of oxidation (burning). This makes no chemical sense.

By: Tok

Tok — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:42:19 +0000

Now i know, kaya pala madami akong napapansin na usok sa bundok ng Arayat..nagkakarbon pala. At napansin ko nalang na nakakalbo na ang bundok.

Thanks for the post MM!

By: Tin

Tin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:16:28 +0000

Just want to share that there is an eco friendly alternative called Green Charcoal. It is made of water lilies and it emits hydrogen instead of carbon. Don’t know how it will affect the taste of the food though. Hope you’ll try roasting Zubuchon with those Green Charcoals!Â

By: Connie C

Connie C — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:59:08 +0000

Kurzhaar: Amen, I say. I also wondered how much carbon emissions and environmental pollution I had contributed on what I feel was a well deserved vacation, between the plane I took and cruise liner I boarded where I tried to use my towels for several days in a row and trying not to flush the toilet everytime I emptied my bladder. I say mea culpa as well.

By: kurzhaar

kurzhaar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:13:56 +0000

Connie, you wrote, “Not much fun living in a fragile world where we have to act more responsibly in anything we do, but that seems to be the way it is/should be.”

Everything we do has a price. I suppose one can either accept that and the consequent need to judge our everyday choices, or continue happily (and obliviously) onward…but we have seen with the environmental nightmares we now face that the latter course is probably not the wisest!

I think the readers of this blog are presumably all able to enjoy food as something more than just sustenance, and so should have an even greater appreciation for the food we enjoy. Personally I think that we ought to remain acutely aware that even a casual choice of say, eating barbequed meat (even if it is a humanely raised pig roasted to perfection over artisanal charcoal) has some environmental cost. I’m not at all saying that you shouldn’t enjoy this (or any other pleasures of life)…just be aware that such pleasures shouldn’t be taken lightly, and if you can minimize social or environmental costs (e. g., pollution, exposure to health hazards, animal suffering, waste of food or fuel), then try your best to do so.

By: Connie C

Connie C — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:10 +0000

Just several days ago on a trip to Egypt , Port Said, Cairo and Alexandria were unbelievably blanketed with haze even in the early morning during our two days’ visit. Think of an area nearly 300 km square! I thought it was “just” smog . Apparently, as I was told, it was also due to burning of grass or whatever agricultural activity was going on, pretty much like a kaingin on a wide scale. It really was a damper as we could not see the orange pyramids thru the haze. Thankfully, the ones in Giza were too colossal to be obscured. Some complained of pain in the eyes and I had some shortness of breath. Between vehicular emissions ( I am not aware that Egypt has made similar efforts in controlling emissions as much as India has) and the burning, I wondered how much they contributed to carbon emissions.

Not much fun living in a fragile world where we have to act more responsibly in anything we do, but that seems to be the way it is/should be.

Hi Betty Q, thought you too had a forced rest from typing !

By: quiapo

quiapo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:24:12 +0000

In the 1950s, in the Zambales mountains , one would meet the occasional shy aeta. I came across some above ground earth ovens, which the guide explained were used by the local tribesmen for charcoal making. I did not examine them closely, but it seemed that access to air was restricted, so the process involved slow smouldering.
The process you describe is interesting and informative.

By: Mila

Mila — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:03:18 +0000

Travelling around the country, you always see people building fires in the yard, I used to think they were making them to keep out the mosquitoes, but now that I’ve read this post, it might just have been charcoal ovens. In Dumaguete, the tuba bread is baked over charcoal made of coconut husks. Adds a latik like smell to the bread.