Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2
Desert ‘carbon farming’ to curb CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations could be an efficient way of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers say the idea is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.
But critics say the concept might be have unexpected, negative effects consisting of driving up food costs.
The research has been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to harsh conditions including very arid deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers showed that one hectare of jatropha could catch as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their estimates 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, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much bigger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the start,” he stated.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a twenty years duration.
The scientists state that a vital element of the strategy would be the availability of desalination facilities. This suggests that at first, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.
They are 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 people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, short-term solution to environment modification.
“I think it is an excellent concept since we are truly extracting co2 from the atmosphere – and it is entirely various between drawing out and avoiding.”
According to the scientist’s calculations the costs of suppressing co2 through the planting of trees would be in 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 variety of countries are currently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not just takes in CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel say the researchers, supplying an economic return.
“Jatropha is perfect to be become biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,” said Prof Becker.
But other professionals in this location are not encouraged. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But a number of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in handling dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the fantastic, 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 stated.
“But there are frequently individuals who require limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we would not class the land as minimal.”
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 enter and grow these enormous plantations to deal with a problem these individuals didn’t in fact trigger?”
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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