We are excited to announce our partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters–makers of Keurig– and Radio Lifeline. The Black Earth Project will bring re:char’s award-winning Climate Kiln technology to coffee and pyrethrum farmers in Rwanda. Together, we will launch a revolution and open up new markets for biochar. One day, your coffee could be [...]
After posting our results from our second season test plots in Kenya, we received a wide range of commentary. While it was nearly all positive, some people did not quite understand the impact of these results. We’ve tried to clarify the information below, and present what we feel are the most important results from this [...]
Entrepreneurs often speak of ‘crossing the chasm’ with regards to launching new technologies. The now-ubiquitous iPhone was once a niche product, prized by early adopters but not yet mainstream. Biochar faces a similar challenge– A handful of visionaries from various geographies have recognized the potential of this farming technique and adopted it. Everyday, these leaders [...]
After several months of development and testing, the re:char team is excited to announce the launch of its new Rutuba/Climate Kiln Version 2.0. The kiln is the only mass-produced biochar kiln in the world that can be ordered online with one click. We designed Kiln 1.0 to be low-cost, capable of being produced anywhere in [...]
I recently had the pleasure of presenting our work at the 2012 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Cannes Lions is considered the ‘Oscars for the Advertising Industry,’ and brings together some of the top leaders in media, publishing, technology and advocacy. I was honored to be invited by one of our funders, the Bill [...]
At re:char, we are die-hard devotees of open-source methodology. We believe that it’s the responsibility of innovators to document their work and share it with the world. The only way technologies like biochar will scale is through radical openness. To that end, we offer the below step-by-step guide to producing charcoal fuel briquettes from biochar. [...]
The humble toilet. For the past 200 years, it has helped the Western world to safely collect and manage human waste. Unfortunately, because traditional sanitation systems are expensive to build and maintain, they are far less prevalent in the developing world. For over a billion people around the world, a clean toilet is a luxury [...]
Recently, I was having dinner with a friend and startup investor. We were discussing Black Revolution, and he asked if we would be employing a ‘Buy one Give one’ model like Tom’s Shoes or Warby Parker. For the unfamiliar, Buy one Give one means that when a consumer in the developed world buys a product, [...]
We’re thrilled to announce that our Black Revolution pre-sale on kickstarter was successfully funded! We exceeded our pre-sale goal, and are now working hard to send out our initial orders and ramp up our manufacturing operation. The support and excitement we’ve received around this product is overwhelming. We had no idea the market would be [...]
This week, we were treated to a delicious meal on the front lines of the Black Revolution. Shibumi, an authentic Japanese Izakaya in Santa Fe, NM, is one of a handful of cutting-edge restaurants using biochar to grow their own food. We met with owner and executive chef, Eric Stapleman, who learned about biochar via [...]
