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Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2
Desert ‘carbon farming’ to suppress CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists say that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists say the idea is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage projects.
But critics state the concept might be have unpredicted, negative impacts consisting of driving up food rates.
The research study has been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to extreme conditions consisting of 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 scientists revealed that one hectare of jatropha could catch approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their price quotes 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 growth, an excellent action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for instance ten thousand hectares in the beginning,” he stated.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.
The researchers say that an important component of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This implies that at first, any plantations would be restricted to coastal locations.
They are hoping to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short-term service to climate change.
“I think it is an excellent concept because we are actually extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is totally different in between drawing out and avoiding.”
According to the scientist’s calculations the costs of curbing carbon dioxide via 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 number of nations are presently trialling this innovation, external however 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 areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel say the scientists, supplying a financial return.
“Jatropha is ideal to be developed into biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” said Prof Becker.
But other professionals in this area are not persuaded. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely effective 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 great, green hope the truth was really different.
“When jatropha was presented it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land,” she said.
“But there are typically individuals who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as minimal.”
She explained that jatropha is highly toxic and can the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had issues about the fairness of the idea.
“It is still somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these huge plantations to deal with an issue 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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