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 state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers state the concept is financially competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage jobs.
But critics say the concept could be have unpredicted, unfavorable impacts including increasing food costs.
The research study has actually been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is effectively adjusted to harsh conditions consisting of exceptionally arid deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.
In this study, German researchers showed that one hectare of jatropha could record up to 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
"The outcomes are overwhelming," said 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 attempting it on a much larger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.
According to the researchers 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 say that an important component of the strategy would be the availability of desalination centers. This means 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 states that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, brief term solution to environment change.
"I think it is an excellent concept since we are truly drawing out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is completely different between extracting and avoiding."
According to the researcher's calculations the expenses of curbing carbon dioxide through 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 currently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be collected for biofuel state the scientists, offering a financial return.
"Jatropha is perfect to be developed into biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other professionals in this location are not convinced. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers 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 successful in managing dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while was when viewed as the terrific, green hope the truth was extremely various.
"When jatropha was introduced it was viewed as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land," she stated.
"But there are often individuals who require marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we would not class the land as marginal."
She explained 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 idea.
"It is still someone else's land. Why enter and grow these huge plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn't really cause?"
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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