Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2

Comments · 86 Views

Desert 'carbon farming' to suppress CO2

Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2


1 August 2013


Share


close panel


Share page


Copy link


About sharing


By Matt McGrath


Environment reporter, BBC News


Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an efficient method of curbing emissions of CO2.


Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists state the idea is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage tasks.


But critics say the idea might be have unanticipated, negative impacts including increasing food prices.


The research has actually been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.


Seeds of change


Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is effectively adjusted to severe conditions consisting of very dry 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 study, German researchers revealed that one hectare of jatropha might catch approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.


"The results are overwhelming," said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.


"There was great growth, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for instance ten thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.


According to the scientists 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 scientists state that a vital component of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination facilities. This implies that at first, any plantations would be confined to coastal locations.


They are wishing to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that simply balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short term service to climate modification.


"I think it is a great concept due to the fact that we are truly drawing out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is entirely various in between extracting and preventing."


According to the scientist's computations the costs of suppressing carbon dioxide through the planting of trees would be in between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other methods, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).


A variety of countries are currently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.


Growing jatropha not only takes in CO2 however 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 scientists, providing a financial return.


"Jatropha is perfect to be developed into biokerosene - it is even much better than biodiesel," said Prof Becker.


But other experts in this area are not convinced. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a number of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in coping with dry conditions.


Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was once viewed as the great, green hope the truth was really different.


"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 individuals who need limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we wouldn't class the land as marginal."


She explained that jatropha is highly hazardous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the concept.


"It is still someone else's land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn't actually cause?"


Follow Matt on Twitter, external.


More on this story


'Carpets of seaweed' grown for fuel. Video, 00:03:05'Carpets of seaweed' grown for fuel


1 July 2013


Biofuels are 'illogical strategy'


Published


15 April 2013


Related web links


Universität Hohenheim


European Geosciences Union


The BBC is not accountable for the content of external websites.

Comments