Desert 'carbon farming' to curb 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 locations could be an efficient method of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers say the idea is economically competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage jobs.
But critics say the idea could be have unexpected, negative impacts consisting of driving up food prices.
The research has actually been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is adjusted to severe conditions consisting of very arid deserts.
It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might catch up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their quotes on trees currently 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 great growth, a good action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much larger 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 take in all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.
The scientists state that a critical element of the plan would be the schedule of desalination centers. This implies that initially, any plantations would be restricted to seaside locations.
They are intending to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short term option to climate change.
"I think it is a great concept because we are truly drawing out co2 from the atmosphere - and it is completely different in between extracting and preventing."
According to the researcher's estimations the expenses 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 variety of nations are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be collected for biofuel state the scientists, supplying an economic return.
"Jatropha is ideal to be developed into biokerosene - it is even much better than biodiesel," said Prof Becker.
But other experts in this area are not persuaded. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in managing 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 extremely different.
"When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land," she said.
"But there are frequently people who require limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we would not class the land as limited."
She mentioned that jatropha is extremely toxic and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the idea.
"It is still someone else's land. Why enter and grow these enormous plantations to deal with a problem these individuals 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
ariellemercier edited this page 2025-01-12 05:42:33 +00:00