Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
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Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists state the concept is economically competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage tasks.
But critics say the concept could be have unpredicted, unfavorable effects consisting of increasing food costs.
The research study has actually been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is very well adapted to severe conditions including incredibly 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 a person hectare of jatropha could capture approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide 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 frustrating," stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
"There was good growth, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much larger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.
According to the researchers 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 twenty years period.
The researchers say that a vital component of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be confined to coastal areas.
They are intending to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, brief term service to environment change.
"I believe it is an excellent concept because we are actually drawing out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is totally different in between drawing out and avoiding."
According to the researcher's estimations the costs of curbing carbon dioxide by means of 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 countries are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.
Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 but has other . The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be harvested for biofuel say the scientists, supplying a financial return.
"Jatropha is perfect to be become biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other professionals in this location are not encouraged. They indicate the fact that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers 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 extremely successful in coping with dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was once viewed as the excellent, green hope the reality was extremely various.
"When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land," she stated.
"But there are often people who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we would not class the land as minimal."
She explained that jatropha is highly hazardous and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had issues about the fairness of the concept.
"It is still somebody else's land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to handle a problem 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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