Desert ‚carbon Farming‘ To Curb CO2
Desert ‚carbon farming‘ to suppress CO2
1 August 2013
Share
close panel
Share page
Copy link
About sharing
By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an efficient method of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed „carbon farming“, researchers state the idea is economically competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage projects.
But critics say the concept could be have unanticipated, negative impacts including increasing food rates.
The research has been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is effectively adjusted to severe conditions consisting of incredibly dry deserts.
It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.
In this study, German scientists showed that a person hectare of jatropha could catch up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their price 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 good development, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much larger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the beginning,“ he stated.
According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by vehicles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years duration.
The researchers state that a critical component of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This means that initially, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.
They are hoping to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, short term service to climate modification.
„I think it is a great idea because we are actually extracting carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is completely various in between drawing out and avoiding.“
According to the researcher’s computations the expenses of curbing co2 by means of the planting of trees would be in 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 presently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel state the researchers, supplying an economic return.
„Jatropha is ideal to be developed into biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,“ stated Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this location are not persuaded. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in coping with dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was when seen as the terrific, green hope the reality was very various.
„When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land,“ she said.
„But there are frequently people who require limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – 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 likewise had concerns about the fairness of the concept.
„It is still someone else’s land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t really cause?“
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
of seaweed‘ grown for fuel. Video, 00:03:05’Carpets of seaweed‘ grown for fuel
1 July 2013
Biofuels are ‚illogical method‘
Published
15 April 2013
Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
The BBC is not responsible for the material of external sites.