Desert 'carbon farming' to suppress CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News
Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists say the idea is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage projects.
But critics say the concept might be have unexpected, unfavorable impacts consisting of driving up food costs.
The research study has been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central and is effectively adapted to severe conditions consisting of very arid deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world because its seeds can produce oil.
In this study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha might catch as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
"The results are overwhelming," stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
"There was great development, an excellent action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.
According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year period.
The scientists say that a crucial component of the strategy would be the availability of desalination facilities. This means that at first, any plantations would be restricted to seaside locations.
They are wishing to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, short term service to environment change.
"I think it is a good idea due to the fact that we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is entirely various between extracting and avoiding."
According to the scientist's computations the costs of suppressing co2 via 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 number of countries are currently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the scientists, supplying an economic return.
"Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," said Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this area are not persuaded. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But numerous of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in handling dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the excellent, green hope the truth was very different.
"When jatropha was presented it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land," she said.
"But there are frequently individuals who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we would not class the land as limited."
She mentioned that jatropha is highly hazardous and can pollute 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 enormous plantations to handle a problem these people didn't actually cause?"
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related internet links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
reginagrigsby edited this page 2025-01-11 23:40:11 +08:00