
Designing Our Carbon Future. From Soil to Advanced Materials w Bill Hilgendorf
From The Biochar Show by The Biochar Show
June 11, 2026 · 57 min · Episode 21
About this episode
Bill Hilgendorf discusses his journey from furniture design to biochar production and the future of biocarbon markets.
Bill Hilgendorf joins The Biochar Show to discuss his journey from furniture design to biochar production, on-farm education, advanced carbon materials, and the future of biocarbon markets. We explore New York Carbon, White Feather Farm, biochar adoption, standards development, carbon markets, and emerging opportunities in construction materials and the built environment. ABOUT THE GUESTBill Hilgendorf, NYCarbon.CO Bio: Trained as an industrial designer, Bill became interested in discarded items and materials at a young age, always thinking about ways they could be fixed or modified to bring a new function or purpose to them. Much of his career has focused on upcycling and telling the story of a material through the design and process of creating something new and functional. When Bill shifted his focus more clearly on the climate crisis and learned about biochar, something clicked. Not only are you able to utilize vast amounts of residue and waste that left alone become a carbon liability, but through the process of pyrolysis you can convert that waste to a stable carbon that will persist for a millennium and can be used to help rebuild soils, suck up toxins and decarbonize the…
People in this episode
Host: John Webster
Guest: Bill Hilgendorf
Topics covered
- biochar
- carbon markets
- sustainable materials
- upcycling
- climate crisis
Keywords
- biochar
- carbon materials
- sustainability
- pyrolysis
- climate change
- upcycling
- construction materials
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: New York Carbon, White Feather Farm, NYCarbon.CO, Echosystems
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