Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations could be an efficient way of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists say the concept is financially competitive with modern carbon capture and storage tasks.
But critics state the concept might be have unanticipated, negative impacts including driving up food prices.
The research study has actually been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to harsh conditions including extremely 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 researchers revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The researchers based their estimates on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
"The results are overwhelming," stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
"There was great development, a great response from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much larger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the start," he stated.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.
The researchers say that a crucial component of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This means that initially, any plantations would be restricted to seaside locations.
They are wanting to establish larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, brief term solution to climate modification.
"I believe it is a good concept because we are really extracting co2 from the environment - and it is completely various in between extracting and preventing."
According to the scientist's calculations the costs of curbing 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 variety of countries are currently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.
Growing jatropha not just takes in CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the researchers, offering an economic return.
"Jatropha is ideal to be turned into biokerosene - it is even much better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other professionals in this area are not encouraged. They indicate the that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these endeavors 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 says that while jatropha was once viewed as the excellent, green hope the reality was really various.
"When jatropha was presented it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal land," she stated.
"But there are typically people who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we would not class the land as limited."
She pointed out that jatropha is extremely harmful and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had issues about the fairness of the idea.
"It is still someone else's land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn't in fact trigger?"
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related internet links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
dillonbelbin33 edited this page 2025-01-12 04:45:57 +08:00