Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
페이지 정보
본문
Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2
1 August 2013
Share
close panel
Share page
Copy link
About sharing
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News
Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations could be a reliable way of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers say the idea is economically competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage tasks.
But critics say the concept might be have unpredicted, unfavorable effects including increasing food costs.
The research study 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 adapted to extreme conditions consisting of very 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 study, German scientists showed that a person hectare of jatropha might catch approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
"The outcomes are frustrating," said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
"There was excellent growth, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the start," he stated.
According to the scientists a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.
The scientists state that a vital element of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This implies that initially, any plantations would be confined to coastal locations.
They are wishing to establish larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, short-term service to environment modification.
"I believe it is a great concept because we are really drawing out carbon dioxide from the environment - and it is totally different between extracting and avoiding."
According to the researcher's estimations the expenses of suppressing co2 by means of the planting of trees would be 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 number of countries are presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be for biofuel state the scientists, offering an economic return.
"Jatropha is ideal to be turned into biokerosene - it is even much better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this area are not persuaded. They indicate the fact that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really effective in managing dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was when viewed as the excellent, green hope the reality was extremely different.
"When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land," she said.
"But there are typically people who require limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we would not class the land as minimal."
She mentioned that jatropha is extremely toxic 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 go in and grow these massive plantations to deal with a problem these people didn't really trigger?"
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
'Carpets of seaweed' grown for fuel. Video, 00:03:05'Carpets of seaweed' grown for fuel
1 July 2013
Biofuels are 'illogical technique'
Published
15 April 2013
Related internet links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
The BBC is not accountable for the content of external sites.
- 이전글문학의 세계로: 책과 이야기의 매력 25.01.12
- 다음글10 Machine Learning Functions (+ Examples) 25.01.12
댓글목록
등록된 댓글이 없습니다.