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Ep. 17: Bill Wyatt - Biochar and Beyond: Turning Waste into Wealth with Eco-Friendly Business Strategies
67 Plays4 months ago
“Biochar’s ability to turn waste into value is a paradigm shift. It’s not just about cleaning up; it’s about creating lasting impact for communities and industries worldwide.”
If you’ve never heard of biochar, prepare to have your mind blown. This carbon-rich powerhouse is revolutionizing industries by turning waste into opportunity—boosting soil health, reducing water usage, and even cutting carbon emissions in construction. In this episode, we explore how integrating biochar into business practices isn’t just eco-friendly; it’s a game-changing strategy for sustainable growth.
Bill Wyatt, founder and CEO of Red Mountain Biochar, shares his journey from the lumber industry to leading an innovative company that’s making a global impact. With bold projects in Tanzania, India, and beyond, Bill explains how biochar improves soil health, reduces water usage, and even makes concrete carbon-neutral—all while building a sustainable business model.
Bill Wyatt is a third-generation lumberman turned eco-entrepreneur. As the leader of Red Mountain Biochar, he’s creating a blueprint for combining sustainability and profitability, proving that business can be a force for environmental good. His work spans continents and industries, making him a pioneer in the regenerative business movement.
Learn more about Bill:
Websites:
• Red Mountain Biochar: https://redmountainbiochar.com
• International Biochar Initiative: https://biochar-international.org
Further research:
• “The Biochar Solution” by Albert Bates
• “Burn: Using Fire to Cool the Earth” by Albert Bates and Kathleen Draper
Explore these valuable resources to further your journey in regenerative design:
Discover more about Paulownia trees and their sustainable potential at https://www.paulownia-la.com/.
Dive into the Twelve Laws of Nature and unlock the secrets of harmonizing with our planet at https://www.12lawsofnature.com/.
Fulfill your garden aspirations with expert guidance from the Garden of Your Dreams masterclass at https://www.gardenofyourdreams.com/.
Ready to take actionable steps towards your dream garden? Book a complimentary 30-minute training session with Matthieu for immediate results: https://calendly.com/garden-of-your-dreams.
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Transcript
Introduction to Regenerative Design Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
There's no political, there's not this is not a political thing, man. This is ah this is a can do good on every front that globally humanity is facing. Water, fertilizer, diminished soil and crop productions, deforestation, carbon dioxide emissions. I mean, the list goes on. I mean, at what point in time has it become a miracle product, right?
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Regenerative Design Podcast. I'm your host Mathieu Mahes and in this show I interview the leading authorities in the world of regenerative practices. People who do good and do well. Are you a person that cares about your environment and our planet? Are you a person that wants to leave the planet to our children to be something that we can be truly proud of?
00:00:45
Speaker
something to enjoy for many generations to come. But are you also a person that believes we can do all of this and do good in business? Well, I have really good news for you. You're here listening to the podcast that is all about making our planet a better place and making your business more successful. Enjoy the show.
Introducing Bill Wyatt and Red Mountain Biochar
00:01:12
Speaker
Hello and welcome to another episode of the regenerative design podcast. And today yet we have another amazing guest. ah His name is Bill Wyatt. Bill Wyatt is the founder and ceo CEO of Red Mountain Biochar. So his company is growing fast and it's ah becoming a global company in helping people to set up biochar installations.
00:01:37
Speaker
So we'll go deep into what biochar is, how people can use it, and what the huge benefits are for our environment. And so I'm very excited about it. Bill, welcome to the show. How are you doing today? I'm doing great today, Matthew. Thank you so much for having me on today.
00:01:53
Speaker
Nice. So we already talked about it offline, but I'd love to go back to your backstory. So you have 150 years of um history in the lumber industry. That is where everything started. Tell me the whole story. It's very exciting.
00:02:09
Speaker
I'm a third generation lowerman in the south of the United States and specifically in southern Illinois. And as such, you know, you start out like everybody in the sawmills as a young boy and you don't have the most glamorous jobs. And mine's centered around three tools, a broom, a shovel, and ah a banding tool for fixing units of material. And You grow up hating chips and sawdust and evolution. evolution you know and Here I am, I'm the director of manufacturing for one of the largest producers in all of North America. and you know I travel ah the South about 100,000 miles a year and I see all the mills and all the biomass issues and and then one night, you know,
00:02:53
Speaker
I don't know the reason why, but I'm watching Dirty Jobs and Micro, here's a shout out to you.
Biochar's Role in Agriculture and Sustainability
00:03:00
Speaker
And, you know, I see biochar on there and immediately I think it's a solution to my industry, you know, taking a waste of value finally. And then I see the benefits of biochar as a product and, you know, it's various uses and benefits and, you know, agriculturally and I have that background, so I kind of,
00:03:22
Speaker
you know explore the opportunity of, and that is now kind of expanding our reach beyond anything we we ever kind of saw. um We literally have opportunities not just here in the United States. We just signed an LOI on a big project in Tanzania, working on several projects in India.
00:03:44
Speaker
All of these are agricultural based products where we are taking a waste product, the organic biomass, the the crop yields, and returning it to biochar and putting it back into the ground for agricultural use and and all the benefits of it. So kind of a crazy journey to be honest with you.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's very interesting that you're coming from from this industry that might not have the most environmental friendly perspective, even though I'm a strong believer that wood is what can be, depending on how it's produced, can be one of the most sustainable um building materials on the planet because it's regenerative, it keeps growing back. and So I think that's that's interesting that you came from that industry and you saw a huge problem. Can you talk a bit more about the, the let's call it the dark side of of the milling industry or or even in in a global way of of other um green waste globally? Well, we can start with the with the milling, that would be interesting. And then
00:04:45
Speaker
So from our perspective, doing you know in my lifetime, and I've been in the lower business 50 years, um you know there's been a lot of of evolution of change. you know Sustainability practices, responsible farming and forestry, responsible logging and milling operations. you know In my role as a director,
00:05:07
Speaker
You know, we look to optimize everything. You know, we don't want any waste coming out of our mills because ultimately the waste, chips and sawdust, they have but that had no value. And at the scale that we make this waste, you know, people people don't really necessarily understand how much volume we're talking about. You know, I have mills that make 25, 30,000 tons a week of waste biomass.
00:05:33
Speaker
And when you multiply that across the south and the smaller mills and the the mom and pop mills, it's a real problem. Getting rid of this material and having any value, most of them, when they do find an outlet for it, um if they're not piling up on their facilities, they're not offered any value, none whatsoever. So you know from a from a value to the mills to create a value. And then ultimately, you know the real value is in the benefits
Biochar Applications Across Industries
00:06:01
Speaker
of the product. i mean I can't tell you, in every industry that we're involved in, whether it's the cashew nut industry or the cotton industry or the pulp and paper industry or the forestry sector, which I'm from the sawmill side of it, you know it's a repetitive thing that you know your core products generate residuals. And in the biomass industry of agricultural,
00:06:26
Speaker
um What do you mean by residuals? just to the the waste The waste of what you do. You know you harvest the product and you get the you get what you're harvesting, but you get you know what it took to grow. or yeah Residues, yeah, got it. oh So if you look at that from a perspective of what we do,
00:06:45
Speaker
um The technology is not that new. It's application is being more widely applied and then the benefits of it are kind of coming to fruition. But, you know, on the basis of everything on Earth is carbon based.
00:07:00
Speaker
um you know, essentially we can pyrolyze everything and turn it back to carbon, which is essentially do. And it's that carbon that's what gives the benefit both to soil and agricultural benefits, the environment from sequestering CO2, various applications of construction and steel and asphalt. You know, it's a versatile product with numerous applications.
00:07:24
Speaker
And in every application, there's core benefit to to the so the products being applied to, and then the overarching kind of benefit is the benefit to the environment.
00:07:35
Speaker
It's only one of two negative prop negative sequestering products. You have mechanical, which is direct air capture. You have this, which is a more natural you know event, which you're taking carbon and putting it back into agriculture or into other industrial uses. So and there's two ways to approach negativity. Actually, or ironically, you know as much as we're separate,
00:07:59
Speaker
oh kind of technologies. We recently were approached by a DAC company to combine are our product as a sorption in DAC technology, so that's kind of exciting to be able to take two separate technologies in the same arena and maybe combine it, get a superpower out of it, so to speak.
00:08:17
Speaker
um you know I want to go a bit into the details of it because we've talked about it before in our first conversation. like Just give the listeners here some examples. I know you're starting to have some evidence that we could reduce the concrete industry by just mixing it into the cement. So when we build houses, it would even make concrete more solid. And if we look at concrete as as one of the Like if we look at at at the greenhouse gases and what industries have the biggest impact on our environment, concrete and glass and building industry in general has a huge impact. So give me give me the stats on what the what the percentages are if we mix it in into that industry.
00:09:03
Speaker
Well, if you look at the the application in concrete, of course, the the percentages are still evolving because as a matter of fact, we're working with a company that is working under a grant with the federal government from 25 to 27 to incorporate the standards into cement ready mix and to precast. So writing the standards for the ASTM, we're actively involved in that because As many sites as we have up and coming, one of their challenges is they need as much data logging so they can go through this to kind of the verification of the product, the process, and then the application. So we're enjoying in those studies.
00:09:43
Speaker
um We have different percentages based on what the applications are. So, you know, and structural applications. We have non-structural applications, pre-cast, and then things like, you know, your blocks that you buy at Home Depot, a decorative blocks and things like that, non-structural applications. um So you can put much higher percentages in non-structural applications that still regain structural and integrity. integrity But, you know, it reduces the amount of water you need to put in concrete when you're making it. It it provides, or or I should say it changes concrete to a carbon neutral product in its application. So, um it helps it dry faster. um It gives it more durability. There's a lot of just base characteristics, you know, without being able to kind of specify with the percentage of the ah mix art per se.
00:10:37
Speaker
no But, you know, it's it's like an agricultural use, you know, there's various recommendations on our our agricultural use. But, but you know, there's certain considerations that you have taken, you know, like pH and things of that nature.
Enhancing Agriculture with Biochar
00:10:50
Speaker
sure hu And then what are the the base nutrient requirements because you say that it can make concrete carbon neutral in its production process. yes That's like huge. There's what two ways we can use that. So so you can you can make biochar, which is our predominant item, but the kind of the lesser is bio coal.
00:11:12
Speaker
So, we're also in a joint venture with a company coming from Argentina to produce bio coal for them. so As a heating and that's for mostly for heating? Yes, that's for all their kiln so that it gives them carbon neutrality on that as well. um So, you you make it neutral to to process the product and then neutral in terms of when you apply it in the concrete as a it's considered a synthetic aggregate in the concrete so it it has aggregate properties per se um but but what it actually does if you if you look at the properties of biochar it's It's carbon, pure carbon, and and if you look into it, it's the surface area that it has. It has enormous surface area. oh yeah Its ability to pull in and calcify carbon dioxide and or negate any carbon dioxide emissions. um That's its core function. That's its core performance value. so That's why it's also very exciting in in farming, right? It can help to
00:12:15
Speaker
retain the nutrients in the soil whereas we're having a lot of erosion and loss of nutrients. You know farming for us is probably the area's most promise. You know with approximately 38,000 acres a day of forestry being demolished across the world to make for new agriculture because we've diminished soil capacities and production capacities.
00:12:36
Speaker
If you look at the agricultural side, that's where you know this product kind of really shines. you know Biochar, when you when you put it in the ground and you apply it at the rates that are recommended, you know five tons per acre, um if you have two quality biochar, you will see a 25 to 40% reduction in watering.
00:12:57
Speaker
It retains water and disperses it more evenly, so through the drought period, you're you're kind of protecting yourself with ah you know kind of a dosing of water or ah at least a ah fixed amount that it releases. And at the same time, you know when you look at the other side of it, you get 40% to 60% increase in crop yields.
00:13:18
Speaker
But then you look at soil benefits. It decreases... forty to see We have to take a minute to... 40 to 60% increase in yields. That's massive. So you save water, which is a a critical issue for the globe, you increase food production, which is another critical issue for the globe. yeah And then you look at the... the the first statement of 38,000 acres a day. I'm from the forestry industry. That's devastating to us. That's non-replenishable forestry going to agriculture, okay? So when you have the opportunity- What do you mean by that? that It's devastating. They they take out 38,000 acres a day globally. That's kind of a, you can Google it. Yes. And they like they're taking it out because they need it for agricultural use because the existing
00:14:05
Speaker
ah farmland used to to grow is diminished in its capacity to produce. Yes, yes, yes. And that's because of industrial farming, yeah. They just had a huge flood in Spain. And you know why all of you see all the mud and all of the the the things that they have? Because their soil is so diminished it couldn't hold together.
00:14:24
Speaker
That's all. they the The biochar is the environmental glue of the soil. It holds water. It retains fertilizers just like water and and kind of disperses them. It reduces compaction. It reduces erosion. It it it gives the microbiological ah activity kind of ah you know kind of a super a super motel to exist and thrive. Then if you reapply it every five years, as is recommended,
00:14:53
Speaker
you condition ah You continue to kind of condition the soil and really bring the soil back to a healthy environment. So you wouldn't have to diminish trees. You would reduce the amount of water you need. You would increase your crop yields. There was a study that came out on golf courses of all things, municipal golf courses.
00:15:12
Speaker
Application of biochar um to these golf courses reduced their water consumption in such a manner that their ah ROI was one year because they literally spent tens of thousands of dollars a month on watering.
00:15:25
Speaker
And that's an also linked because golf courses tend to be chemically, they need to spray them a lot to keep them like neat, which is another discussion in and of its own, but only using biochar will drastically reduce that because you have grass on on the... And you have healthy grass.
00:15:42
Speaker
healthy grass so you at least there will be a huge reduction in chemical need for for the grass, same with agriculture. If your plants are yielding at 60 to 80 percent more, that means you you and you can reduce heavily and in pesticides, herbicides, nitrogen, ah chemically synthetic nitrogen and all this. It's one of the assides not that I'm sorry, but you hit on something else, you know fertilizer and and and chemical fertilizers in particular. So part of nitrogen yeah well part of our process, you know, we have the opportunity to pull out the the oils that come as an extraction, just like the synthetic gases. so yeah The oils are processed back as a essentially a biopesticide. So a natural inoculant for the plants. You know, when you look at this kind of the symbiosis of, you know,
00:16:36
Speaker
the the plant's biomass or organic plant biomass creating, you know, healthier environments for re-application back into its environment, so to speak. You're, you know, you're just repurposing biomass kind of more expediently than nature's doing it. You know, nature does it naturally through the decay process. It's not necessarily as efficient and had the same carbon negation properties, but it goes through the same process, ultimately. So, you know. With biochar, you're just speeding it up.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah, i thinking we're just we're just trying to you know come up with a kind of consistent methodology of processing it and quality control and and everything from the feedstock we put in to ways we process at time and temperature and the various methodologies of controlling um you know oxygen content per se. And ultimately when the product comes out, it's it's a raw sponge, if you will. So it gives us opportunity to put natural nutrients in it. you know everything from animal maneuvers that we're working on with some of the anaerobic digesters to you know other other things like the the wood vinegar that comes out. So a lot of opportunities to kind of paradigm shift the fertilizer industry.
00:17:50
Speaker
oh you know kind of help the the watering needs of the of the globe as they continue to evolve. you know And there again, Biochar as a water remediation, as a water filtration device is a stellar performance. So you're literally cleaning up your soils while you're you're applying this. So any heavy metals or any hazardous chemicals or things that that are in soil are gonna be kind of cleaned up as the as time goes on. So it's a soil remediation as well.
00:18:18
Speaker
While the benefits are like endless and and they ripple out, from one benefit it ripples out into several others, it's like it becomes crazy. Like it becomes very exciting that we, and knowing this, I don't know if the science that gave the dooms thinking of how global climate change or the climate crisis is going in the bad direction, how fast it is going, but if we can apply these systems that you're um creating and selling. I think we can solve it faster than we can imagine and just to stress one thing out onto the nu onto the nitrogen like for farmers nitrogen is one of the highest costs in their business especially today since the war in Ukraine nitrogen has skyrocketed in price
00:19:04
Speaker
And what's also crazy about synthetic nitrogen that not everybody knows is that it's produced with oil.
Economic and Social Benefits of Biochar
00:19:11
Speaker
So there's machines that are run on diesel or whatever fuel you get. And these machines will take because nitrogen is readily available in the atmosphere.
00:19:21
Speaker
So these machines take it out of the atmosphere while they're burning fossil fuels so they can get a certain amount of liquid nitrogen so that farmers can spray that on their land. And i so I've seen some videos, in some cases, farmers are spending as much money as they buy tractors.
00:19:41
Speaker
And I'm telling you, not also not everybody knows a price of a tractor is like the price of a sports car. So some farmers are spending that amount of money a year on on nitrogen and with this we can, to start, heavily reduce it but also we can tap into more natural processes of capturing nitrogen from the atmosphere because as it turns out there's plants that do it for us. We don't need a sophisticated machines and burning up fossil fuel to get nitrogen out of the atmosphere. There's actual plants that do it and then in farming I'm very excited about cover crops.
00:20:20
Speaker
And that's where that function can come in and it will work brilliantly with the biochar. So just wanted to stress that out that again, like ripple ripple ripple effect is very, very exciting. The crazy part is that biochar offers kind of the base, if you will, the base of opportunity of application, because there's so many things that it can serve.
00:20:45
Speaker
And when you combine various effects, I'll give you another just another bit of information. um We were approached by a very large mining company out in the California area. They mined zeolite. What is that? Zeolite is a naturally occurring chemical and he has properties for remediation and and it has properties for fertilization in agriculture. Oh, got it.
00:21:15
Speaker
But when you combine zeolite with biochar, because again, biochar is a base, the the combined properties make it the superman of soil and water remediation, natural soil remediation. So imagine, imagine a super fun cleanup site and all of what's involved there, instead of just taking biochar and continuing to mix it and mix it and mix it until it totally absorbs this stuff over time.
00:21:45
Speaker
you know We have enough challenges the industry faces from being responsible and the lumber industry is probably one of the most responsible because you know we have to grow a crop that repeats itself. And if we're not responsible stewards, our industry will die. It's not like you make new trees all the time unless you grow them. okay So we're very, very responsible stewards of industries.
00:22:08
Speaker
of our industry um and guys like me as a director and growing up in the industry third generation you know when i grew up i didn't grow up on the ah probably the I don't know, the most glamorous side of the industry. You know, we were remainers. It means we took, you know, materials and remanufactured them. So it was important for us to watch the waste streams and make sure that nothing hit the chipper that could be made into something. And that mentality stayed with me my whole life. You know, I'm the guy that makes something out of everything, right?
00:22:40
Speaker
And so, you know, now the opportunity to to serve my industry was one thing. But now, you know, the pivot has become the good of the product, the benefit of the product. And now even more so, some of the areas were offered these enormous opportunities.
00:22:57
Speaker
You know, the opportunity to to give back from a social standpoint is becoming you're a real priority for us. The countries that are giving us these enormous opportunities, we built an enormous social programs. I mean, you this programs, I'll just give you just small things like in Tanzania, we're literally making a $60 million dollars per plant cap ex on 20 something plants in this country over time.
00:23:23
Speaker
And every 10 years, we're walking away from each one of them and giving them to the local community, giving our part to them so they can continue to build hospitals and schools and roads and you know improve their education systems and the opportunities.
00:23:37
Speaker
You know, when you don't start with that agenda, but you're given that opportunity, it kind of changes maybe how you look at things. And we're getting such a huge broad opportunity. Maybe that's why, because now we look at this as a social responsibility. You know, there's an environmental responsibility we have. We can take a waste and make a value out of it. We can all benefit from that value. And in that, the give back should be to the areas that are in most need of it.
00:24:03
Speaker
and who are giving us the most opportunity because some areas are so in need of it and so positive in terms of moving this industry forward to make change. The ability for us to make impact isn't limited by any border.
00:24:21
Speaker
So it we welcome the opportunities that are coming to us and are so amazed that some of the opportunities just continue to pour in. We have opportunities in Indonesia and South Korea right now. I mean, every day might be more and more opportunities throughout Africa.
00:24:38
Speaker
I mean, it's just, it's almost insane how much good you can do if everybody can just work together and put everything aside and say, you know what, here's a really good way to solve a lot of issues for our countries, for our communities, for our environment, and a lot of opportunity to go to to do real good, serious real good and in the entire circularity of what that would mean, right?
00:25:02
Speaker
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00:25:25
Speaker
I think that's amazing and i want to tap I want to dive a little bit deeper into, I have to keep in mind that you yeah towards the end of the the episode, you have to tell the story with the cashew k nuts in Africa because that's mind blowing. But if ah we'll get to that, I first want to get a little bit more into the technical side of how your company operates and how your you're setting up these In essence, they're factories, right? So how how did how does the process work? i'm I'm calling you. Hey, Bill, I want to set up a factory here in Belgium. How does it go?
00:26:01
Speaker
So typically, this is a repeat that we hear so often we here these last few weeks. you know They have the opportunity for us to have a footprint, they have a biomass feedstock issue, um but they're needing somebody who is forward of their ability to procure the equipment, um have viable equipment that can produce at scale, come into their country and make an impact um by having the ability to not just show up there as a business model, but to show up to be a social model that's repeatable, that gives people the opportunity to engage and solve their problems. And at the same time, from our standpoint, like I told you before, it never really started as a social goal. I mean, that just was how it evolved. But from our standpoint now, that's kind of the the driving force. and
00:26:58
Speaker
You know, when you start listening to people's needs and you touched on the the the opportunity of Tanzania, I think that spells out the same thing that we we worked on with some of the projects in India, that when you come to the table with people of need and like-mindedness that want to have an impact.
00:27:17
Speaker
that you settle everything aside and you spell out what that is and who can be brought to the table because we we we didn't start out with everybody just saying, here's our opportunity to come take care of it. We had to say, okay, but it's gonna take these various entities and parties to be a part of it for it to be truly successful, impactful. And if the certain parties were talking about and joining,
00:27:39
Speaker
aren't a party to it, then we know that the success is probably limited. but um That's from your experience, right? Yeah. I mean, it's just, and we're getting more of it because it's almost the same discussion in this most generic form of how, what the opportunity is and what, you know, when we do a little deeper dive of what the need within the need is, that's where the real, you know, kind of,
00:28:02
Speaker
I guess relationship or the connection is made because we were trying to find out where the true value of the relationship is, i processing biomass for a profit, that's the corporate goal. Processing biomass for the good of what it can do, getting it back into application and working with the people to get it into application for their best use and benefit and ultimately for the benefit of what the product does, ah the overarching, which is the carbon sequestering, right?
00:28:30
Speaker
But you know and in areas where, agriculturally, you have issues with soil, which is, you know goodness gracious, it's everywhere. I mean, to improve. their ability to use their water more efficiently or clean up their water or clean up their soils or produce more oh you know to feed themselves or their animals. you know There's a lot of good that can be done and you know and the whole process of how we do this from the feedstock to the process and product is just so crazy and amazing because
00:29:03
Speaker
You know, initially fire up these these machines on natural gas for a couple of hours. And then when we start moving all the product through the process, um just because of it's a natural event of what it gives off, it it essentially starts running on its own accord. thats That sounds like music to my ears. And it puts out and and it puts out no you know hazardous products. I mean, we're using clean fight feedstocks. We're burning off everything back into the refractories.
00:29:30
Speaker
We're able to take some excess gases and excess oils out of it for further use. I mentioned fertilizer, but you can also make biodiesel. yep There's a lot of fun. I think when you do the um the liquid gold that we talked about, the and when because that's made out of the gas, right? So if you can liquefy that. That's how the oil actually, with add the gases we make,
00:29:58
Speaker
They make SAF and other type gases for burning. They do make it out of the oils as well, but we're looking at the oil more on the fertilizer side because we're so tight on the app the agricultural side application wise, so we really want the crops that we're taking these biomass is in from to to give them back their natural biocide if you will to for application on top of the but you know as far as with the biochar so they get you know kind of the ah all around you know natural pesticide water fertilizer you know the the opportunity for the plant to truly have an opportunity to grow and have microbial success
00:30:42
Speaker
and And look, over time, the soil just gets better and better and better. you know So instead of diminishing and fertilizing and diminishing and fertilizing, and you're having soil degradation over time, you're actually building the health of the soil back. oh That's amazing. But just to to let's say all the stars align with the stakeholders that need to be around the table and you set up a project, what is like the timeline to get it up and running? Is it like complicated with the specific machinery that you need? or or no nick on How fast can you set it up?
00:31:18
Speaker
So typically, the footprint that we look at is about a six month window to get all of the equipment you know put together as as installation unit ready and shipped. And then you have all the the true installation on site, so site prep and what have you. But during that six months of waiting, you can get all your site prep done. It's actually minimal site prep. So um as long as utilities are are more or less available to us,
00:31:46
Speaker
oh you know, we can even work around some of that with portable generators and things like that because we give off thermal and electric energy as well. So there's a lot of self sustainability about how we operate this equipment. problem Um, and you know, from our standpoint, we, we look at if we signed a deal today and we were moving, you know, forward as of that minute, I would tell you that I would be,
00:32:12
Speaker
On your footprint and operational with our, what we consider our top down footprint, it's a four unit installation. So we initially want to get there and get set up. And that means we would consume about 160,000 tons a year of raw material um and produce somewhere in the order of about 40,000 tons of finished product for application.
00:32:35
Speaker
Um, application rates about five tons and an acre. So you can kind of extrapolate how much, you know, ground cover we could, we can make. It's a pretty effective, um, kind of, uh, application. Um, one of our, I don't want to say competitors, but one of our other people in this industry, you know, a company called Exomad. Um, I'm really proud to know them and see their work. They continue to expand and.
00:33:02
Speaker
When you look into them, they they have the same community type give back. We're involved with the people that are bringing the biomass, getting full benefit back to them at no charge. um So we're building a model that is unparalleled in its ability to to scale and for there to be true benefit to the people who are dealing with the biomass problems. They direct the benefit from the alleviation of the problem and then the benefit of, you know, what the problem is turned into. So that they benefit in so many different ways.
00:33:35
Speaker
um you know we're We're blessed to have this opportunity and to continue to evolve the model and and learn kind of the best way to make the best you know impact. And impact is a big word, right? So probably there if you look at it as the ESG model, environmental, social, and governments, we're we're trying to make sure we're good stewards on every level. and Maybe be a that, uh, I don't know that model thereby tries to work towards because it it really doesn't seem that difficult to be honest with you. I'm truly based on how simple this true, the whole effort truly is. If you just, you know, maybe it is the stars lining. I don't know, but it this just seems like with truly applied effort, everybody that's involved, even on the smallest places in Kenya or Zimbabwe.
00:34:26
Speaker
There's people who are so motivated. They are making impact and it just starts with that drive, right? I mean, if you'd have told me one year ago, you know, I've been in this industry for 50 years. I'm on the backside of a contract, could choose retirement and and enjoy my children and my grandchildren. You know, I've been married 41 years and I've built that side of my life as a long as my name. Congratulations. Well, thank you. But you know, now I,
00:34:51
Speaker
I can't walk away from it. You know, what I first thought was a really cool idea to solve biomass has now become this as of responsibility. I feel that, you know, this is so simple to do. I just feel like I have to do these things. oh yeah I'm literally, I'm very blessed again. I'm.
00:35:08
Speaker
less than a week away from being highlighted on stage in front of 78 countries and over 1,500 people that are industry titans that I hope to make a bigger global impact of reach. um and and Where is that and what event is
Global Impact of Biochar Projects
00:35:25
Speaker
it?
00:35:25
Speaker
um It's a personal, it's a private event in Los Angeles. It's once a year, it's all rich people around and famous people and captains of every industry across the planet. Like I said, in 78 countries and I still don't know how a little southern third generation level meant is going to be on stage pitching this to 78 countries and and trying to gain traction so people can kind of, you know you know what they say, it takes a community, right? To raise a child. Well, you know, if you look at biochar as a child, it it takes it's going to take the globe, not just the community. So the more I do things like this and people like you are so gracious to kind of let me have some airtime and put the word out and
00:36:08
Speaker
and do a little deep dive on it and and challenge people to you know do your deep dive on it. you know this There's a lot of scientific evidence that backs up this product and the benefits of it. This is not big corporations trying to sell you the next you know the next fancy thing. We're not trying to sell you anything, actually. If you look at our net business model, how it's evolving, we're just giving it to you. you know What we're making do, we're making the government and the the overall, the the overall industry, the carbon industry pay for this, right? We're not we're not engaging the the people to do it. we're We're saying, okay, we have these initiatives, so let's all work together and quit talking about it, and we can't impose it on the people because its too much of a burden, right? But if we make that well we make that bridge where the burden's not on the people, and there's not that much of a burden on the government, you spread it kind of across the different industries that are involved,
00:37:04
Speaker
Well, then that's kind of how it's supposed to be, right? Industry support to support the the overarching mission. So I agree. It's truly different than anything I've ever been involved in. I've sold lower my whole life. You got to buy something to sell something to make a profit. And you know, I've never had. It's incredible. What a beautiful story. And I think like what you touched upon that it becomes so natural to do good for the environment, for the people, for it becomes like in In some cases you might think it sounds too good to be true looking at the news and climate change and whatever politics and and that's one thing that I want to stress out. Even now that you you're going to have a new president, and some hopes are there that because he's teaming up with
00:37:49
Speaker
ah Kennedy Jr., which is going to be a great advocate for a generative farming. So i'm I'm excited. We'll still have to see how how that turns out. But I think we never have to put our own hopes in other people. We should create the business ourselves. We can innovate. You're the perfect example of like you're creating a massive business.
00:38:10
Speaker
And you're doing it from the heart because you' try like you're trying to solve one minor problem with with waste. You came out to see like, wow, this can actually completely change the the world.
00:38:22
Speaker
And now you're key yeah you're going to keep chasing it and keep doing it. You're getting on stage. It's incredible. it's It's crazy. The more you do this, it just becomes more intuitive to you that the path and the direction you truly should be taken with it. And is where you start and where you finish, like one of my coaches tells me,
00:38:42
Speaker
You know, you have to be ready to pivot when it's time. And the speed of implementation is what you get from this pivot to that pivot to know that you made the right decision or you need to pivot back to what you were doing. I can't tell you how much has changed since I started this a year ago, a year ago, one year ago, I knew nothing about what I do. Nothing. I knew lumber like the back of my hand, right? And now I'm considered a foremost authority and expert and one of the most branded people in this industry. And I'm very thankful for that. I truly hope to make a big impact because I think it's i think it's an opportunity. And, you know, your blessings are where you count them, right? And maybe sometimes late in life, you don't understand where a true passion or something can come from, but not ignoring it can probably be one of the greatest changes and challenges you've ever had. So I'm glad. I think it's amazing. And your whole life is was leading up to this great moment, I think.
00:39:43
Speaker
So, and also just to stress again, like this is what true regeneration is about. So if you look at what sustainability could be, if you look at sustainability, the word itself, it just means sustaining, kind of means keep doing the same thing. Maybe you have one problem, you solve it. That's it, good and sustaining. But if you look at regeneration, you have a problem, you solve that problem and by solving that problem, yeah you also create a host of other amazing solutions and there's a ripple effect to it.
00:40:11
Speaker
So its think it's it's so beautiful to hear you explain that story. So we're going to have to start wrapping up. But still, I want to tell i want the audience to know this crazy, ah beautiful example of of cashew production in in yeah in Tanzania, right? Yeah. that's Tell the whole story. It's so amazing. So we were presented with the opportunity from um somebody who has been in deep discussions with the government of Tanzania. um And you know we didn't know at the time, but I guess five or six years ago, the government took over the cashew nut industry because of, I guess, various issues within the industry. And they kind of leveled the playing field and and gave you know the farmers kind of a renewed opportunity to succeed, so to speak. And so in doing so, um they've reached out because they have a tremendous biomass issue, tremendous.
00:41:04
Speaker
a so Yeah, just to sketch it when you have a cashew production, it's ah it's a big fruit with a lot of flesh and ah there's only like one or two nuts. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but there's very few nuts and a lot of flesh. It so so it's a big looks like a big bulb and it's got a nut growing on the bottom and literally the nut is separated from it and you know you still have to get it out of the nut husk. so yeah um And if you look at it, it's a very nasty process. The people have had to process it by hand for, I guess, for all eternity and it's very acidic and it's very, very harmful to your skin. um So they come to us and then their thought was, um if we could co-locate with them and take the biomass in and process it the biochar, obviously they they knew about the the benefits of biochar and we were working out the details of of that.
00:41:59
Speaker
um But their overarching desire was to co-locate with us and ask if they could have our excess thermal energy. Now, we do run a kind of a thermal exchange generators that take some of the heat out and turn it to electricity, so we're you know at least net neutral if not net positive on energy production or consumption.
00:42:22
Speaker
so You know, it was a little no-brainer because when we're done with everything at this point in time, we have a flare stack and we're flaring off and we don't have any emissions. We have a CO2, a process that takes all the CO2 out of the the stack. um But it's a tremendous amount of energy. So we agreed because they had informed us that 90% of their profit potential was lost to having to dry the nuts.
00:42:50
Speaker
So, we continue our discussions and you know I continue to do a deep dive on my own about the whole industry because I didn't know anything about cashew nuts. I never had to process them. I didn't tell you anything about whatever you want to know. So, when I looked at it and I looked at the how they separated it and the shelling process, I thought, wow, that's that's absolutely absolutely horrific.
00:43:14
Speaker
it's a it has not been brought to the modern age, right? So then I went back to him and said, hey, you know, if you're going to co-locate the roasting facility and take all our thermal energy, why don't you co-locate the shelling facility? And that way there's nothing that has to be done in the field except for bring us the nut and then it would go to the shelling operation. We would take the the bio side of it. The thermal would go to the dryers. The electric could be used however they want to the to the either the shelling location or to to the so the drying. We could adjust the the thermodynamics on that for whatever the electrical need is.
00:43:54
Speaker
And they and you know but they gave us the opportunity to locate right next to their export zone at the port, literally 1,100 hectares of land. and I don't even know why they think we need almost 2,500 acres, but you know maybe they know things we don't, maybe because the other regions might kick in, but you know we're we're taking the opportunity. we're gonna have a an installation, probably, you know, we're there. We signed the l LOI ah like a week ago. So we're just working out details of footprint and an actual site location right now. So, um but, you know, what an opportunity, right? So then we decided, look, because the government's involved and, you know, we've got to give them them their part.
00:44:36
Speaker
you know And then we we need something for the capex because it's ah it's a big capex, and we'd like to at least have some residual out of that. So you know we looked at the opportunity. um We know our side of the ah ROI and what have you. And we decided because they they said, look, you know if we execute at level or at scale on this region, which is a million tons of biochar in this one region,
00:45:00
Speaker
And literally, when we got up to speed, we literally could just start rolling out in each region throughout the other 22 regions and you know just be repeat, repeat, repeat. So you know how much more simple can you be, right? So then we decided that, look, you know our social responsibility was take a percentage of the profit out, reinvest it into the local communities for for that opportunity.
00:45:23
Speaker
And then you know I had the longer picture that you know maybe maybe God keeps giving me these crazy ideas on how it really works. But then I just decided that after 10 years, we'd walk away from a site location and leave it to the local community.
00:45:38
Speaker
And the only thing we the only thing we want out of all of what it's going to do and all the good, we just want half of the carbon credits that it's going to generate just as kind of the thank you for that region not having done so well. And our reciprocal is, you know, we're walking away from a $60 million dollars investment on our part. So every facility times 60, you can do the number. and the numbers We're walking away from a tremendous amount of assets over time.
00:46:08
Speaker
but they're gonna take us into Mozambique and other areas that they share the same region of growing. So, you know, it goes back to the opportunity to go do good is so exponentially crazy that we just have to do, we just have to do right when we do the first installation and then the people should take it from there because we're like using all local people. I mean, we're not trying to bring in outside people to do these things. um So,
00:46:34
Speaker
A lot of opportunity, just crazy. Yeah, it's brilliant. And just to summarize it again for the listeners to understand the the impact of that this will have. So cashews production costs, 90% is energy to dry it.
00:46:49
Speaker
This is energy that was prime or it's going to be or is currently still used from the grid, probably produced who knows by what energy source? Probably coal in some cases or just big.
00:47:05
Speaker
industrial energy ah facilities, creating it, which are not good for the environment. You're getting it completely off the grid and you're reducing the the cost of the cashew nut production by 90%. So they become 90% more profitable on top of that.
00:47:23
Speaker
you have the The caches can be dried on site with your own produced energy. ah you have you'll have ah Potentially you can have still an more energy production from those units that you could ah sell to the locals or however it's going to be used. ah you can You can sell that energy still.
00:47:44
Speaker
So I think it's it's brilliant in so many levels. Then not we didn't even talk about what the product is, biochar, that you'll be able to put that back into the fields of of the cashew nut. So the cashew trees will be healthier. They will have to use less chemicals in that process.
00:48:01
Speaker
um so ah rising limittra there's like so limit You know, it goes back to I feel so blessed because it's just so cra all of it's just so crazy. So, you know. And I think also that it's brilliant in that sense. If we look at it, okay, we have this whole paradigm. We need more clean energy. So we've got windmills, but as now it turns out, windmills, they need huge maintenance. huge maintenance They only start cash flowing after, I don't know, seven years, I think, and they need maintenance after 10 years. So there's only three years of,
00:48:36
Speaker
over it being profitable. We have solar panels seems to be okay, but what what do we do when with it when it doesn't work anymore? And here you got a ah beautiful system that is harvesting sunlight directly. There's no fossil fuels involved.
00:48:51
Speaker
And yeah, that's going to have a huge impact on our environment because that also opens up the whole the whole paradigm that we think that carbon is something bad. Like ah carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it's bad. Well, it's been around forever. And if you ah exhale, that's also carbon dioxide. So it's a whole wrong thinking. It's the carbon cycle that's more important than with your process. You're taking carbon. diox Well, the trees in this case, the cashew trees are taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
00:49:21
Speaker
We are absorbing them. The nuts get reproduced. The carbon is is ah still, you you you have the biochar, which is the carbon of that product. And it goes back into the fields, back into the soil. So you're becoming carbon negative and in a very fast way while you're doing something, while you're having a production process. So it's not like it's, the I think with governments, it's always like, okay, you have to do this, you have to do that. And it becomes a burden where this is pure opportunity. so Yeah, I think it's iss brilliant. Very, very exciting. So Bill, and we have to be respectful of your time. So anything that you still want to share with the audience, how how can people best reach out to you through your website, social media, LinkedIn? Yeah, i've research my my website, redmountainbiochar.com. Obviously, you can reach me through LinkedIn.
00:50:13
Speaker
um Just reach out to me. That's all I ask. If you are one of the people in the audience that could be one of those game changers that you know has an application or a use in your production or your products, reach out to me. you know There's a lot of people kicking the can down the road on the reasons not to use it.
00:50:31
Speaker
I'm telling you, there's more of an overwhelming majority and we can feel the kind of the shift of people who are using it and do see the benefits and you know the well-rounded application of it. It's not just a one and done use. you know So, you know, this is something that there's huge benefit and huge sustainability aspects to. So, you know, you're right. It could be very huge, but it's going to take all of us and the community of people to educate and no apply it and and ah to see those benefits and then kind of lean into, you know, what it does for everybody. i mean
00:51:08
Speaker
There's no political, there's not this is not a political thing, man. This is ah this is a can do good on every front that globally humanity is facing. Water, fertilizer, diminished soil and crop productions, deforestation, carbon dioxide emissions. I mean, the list goes on. I mean, at what point in time has it become a miracle product, right? But we're grateful and very thankful for this. and And that's what I want to express is,
00:51:35
Speaker
You know, if people could say have that same mindset and see the opportunity for for what it is and have that really thankful, grateful opportunity to make an impact, step up to the plate and do so, that's all. Wow. Okay. Thank you very much, Bill. On that beautiful note, we're going to end the show. I hope to get you back on the show sometime to get updates. yeah So thank you very much for coming on. Matthew, have a great day. Thank you so much. And I appreciate that the audience for taking the time to listen.
00:52:05
Speaker
Thank you. Bye. Bye. Thank you very much. Bye bye.