The new Energy Garden located at Post Carbon Institute’s new international headquarters in Sebastopol, California is ready to begin planting out warm season annuals. It was great to see that a large amount of work had been completed since Jason and I visited the site in early April. The site is ready with a drip irrigation system that will allow full control of watering. Essentially each individual bed can be turned on or off. In addition to these efficient watering measures, more compost has been incorporated into the fine textured seedbeds and woodbark has been added in the pathways in order to suppress weeds. Perennial and biannual energy crops have been planted out and include Switch Grass, Miscanthus, and Jerusalem Artichokes. This combination of crops is useful because the as biomass can be compressed into briquettes and burned in a smokeless micro gasifier, used as a soil amendment while providing the carbon component for aerobic compost , converted to paper as fiber feedstock, and even the tubers of the Jerusalem artichokes can be converted into ethanol.

A good number of Post Carbon Institute’s strategic team was in town and had the opportunity to visit the Energy Garden. In the picture below, Julian Darley and Jason Bradford led a tour of the garden while Bart Anderson, the Founder of energybulletin.net, Daniel Lerch, Program Manager of the Post Carbon Cities initiative, and Post Carbon’s Technology Manager Mack Hardy looked on and discussed future site plans.

More pictures to come as the project continues into the summer months.

Touring and Discussing Energy Garden in Sebastopol, CA

Three Large Beds Visible From the Street

Backyard Plots with Compost, Woodbark Paths, and Drip Irrigation System