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 say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations could be a reliable way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists say the concept is financially competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics state the concept could be have unanticipated, unfavorable effects including increasing food costs.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adapted to harsh conditions including very dry deserts.

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

In this research study, German researchers revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might record approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The researchers based their estimates on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

“There was good growth, a great action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting 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 vehicles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year period.

The researchers state that a vital element of the plan would be the availability of desalination facilities. This means that initially, any plantations would be restricted to coastal locations.

They are intending to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, brief term option to climate change.

“I believe it is a great idea since we are actually drawing out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is totally various in between extracting and preventing.”

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

A variety of nations are presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be .

Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 but 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 researchers, supplying an economic return.

“Jatropha is perfect to be become 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, especially in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely 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 seen as the excellent, green hope the reality was really various.

“When jatropha was introduced it was viewed as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal 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 limited.”

She mentioned that jatropha is highly toxic 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 handle an issue 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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