Desert ‚carbon Farming‘ To Curb CO2
Desert ‚carbon farming‘ to suppress CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed „carbon farming“, researchers say the concept is financially competitive with modern carbon capture and storage jobs.
But critics say the concept might be have unforeseen, unfavorable effects including driving up food costs.
The research has been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is really well adjusted to extreme conditions consisting of incredibly arid deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world due to the fact that its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German scientists showed that one hectare of jatropha could record as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
„The outcomes are frustrating,“ said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
„There was great growth, a great response from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much larger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the start,“ he stated.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.
The researchers say that a critical aspect of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This indicates that initially, any plantations would be restricted to seaside locations.
They are intending to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that just offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, short-term service to climate modification.
„I believe it is a good concept because we are really extracting co2 from the atmosphere – and it is completely various in between drawing out and preventing.“
According to the researcher’s estimations the expenses of suppressing carbon dioxide through the planting of trees would be between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other techniques, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).
A number of countries are currently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the can be collected for biofuel say the scientists, supplying an economic return.
„Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,“ said Prof Becker.
But other experts in this location are not persuaded. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a lot of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in handling dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was when viewed as the fantastic, green hope the truth was really different.
„When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land,“ she said.
„But there are frequently people who need minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we wouldn’t class the land as limited.“
She pointed out that jatropha is extremely toxic and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had issues about the fairness of the idea.
„It is still somebody else’s land. Why go in and grow these enormous plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t in fact cause?“
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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