Example Projects
The Potomac Project
Situated near the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac Project aims to bury 5000 tCO2-equivalent of coarse woody biomass in a Wood Vault. The wood is sustainably sourced from wood residuals that would otherwise be destined for mulch, burnt, or left to rot on forest floor. Multiple phases will add more storage capacity to the site. This project is listed on Puro.Earth.
The Montreal Project
In March 2013, at the corner of an agricultural field near Montreal, Canada, 35 tons of unwanted wood collected in the surrounding region was buried in an excavated trench. Grass has since grown back on the surface. Nearly 9 years later, sample wood discs were excavated for physical and chemical analysis. The results show convincingly the high durability of buried wood. The operation was low-cost and highly scalable. See results at This is CDR presentation Episode 24.
The Gemstone Project
In 2010, the CarbonSinks Team at the University of Maryland demonstrated the feasibility of wood burial as a carbon sequestration strategy. Conducted at the Wye Lab on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, a 3 year experiment monitored the decomposition of 125 wood samples. The results showed that even under a non-ideal condition, the lifetime of buried wood can be extended from few years on the surface to several decades when buried. The project also developed the first methodology for wood burial. See the project report.
