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 large numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists state the idea is financially competitive with modern carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics say the idea might be have unanticipated, negative impacts consisting of increasing food costs.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is effectively adjusted to extreme conditions consisting of incredibly arid deserts.

It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world because its seeds can produce oil.

In this study, German scientists showed that a person hectare of jatropha could record approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their price quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

“The outcomes are overwhelming,” stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

“There was excellent development, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the start,” he said.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by vehicles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.

The scientists state that an important aspect of the strategy would be the availability of desalination centers. This indicates that initially, any plantations would be restricted to coastal locations.

They are wanting to establish bigger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short-term service to climate change.

“I think it is an excellent idea due to the fact that we are truly drawing out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is totally various between drawing out and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s computations 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 strategies, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

A number of countries are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just takes in CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel state the scientists, supplying a financial return.

“Jatropha is perfect to be become biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” said .

But other professionals in this area are not convinced. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But numerous of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in dealing with 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 introduced it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land,” she said.

“But there are often people who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as minimal.”

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely hazardous 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 somebody else’s land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to deal with an issue these people 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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