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Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2
Desert ‘carbon farming’ to curb CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News
Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be a reliable way of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists state the idea is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage jobs.
But critics say the idea might be have unanticipated, negative impacts consisting of driving up food prices.
The research has been released, external in the journal Earth System .
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to harsh conditions consisting of extremely dry deserts.
It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers revealed that one hectare of jatropha could record up to 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment 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 overwhelming,” said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
“There was good development, an excellent response from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the start,” he said.
According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three 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 an important element of the strategy would be the availability of desalination centers. This implies that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.
They are intending to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, brief term solution to climate modification.
“I think it is a good idea due to the fact that we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is totally various between drawing out and avoiding.”
According to the scientist’s computations the expenses of suppressing co2 via 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 nations are currently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.
Growing jatropha not only takes in CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel say the scientists, providing a financial return.
“Jatropha is perfect to be developed into biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this location are not persuaded. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely effective in managing dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the great, green hope the truth was very different.
“When jatropha was presented it was viewed as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land,” she said.
“But there are often individuals who require marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we wouldn’t class the land as limited.”
She mentioned that jatropha is extremely poisonous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the idea.
“It is still someone else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle a problem these people 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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