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 great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers state the idea is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics say the concept could be have unpredicted, negative impacts consisting of increasing food costs.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is effectively adjusted to harsh conditions including extremely dry deserts.

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

In this research study, German scientists revealed that one 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 outcomes are overwhelming,” stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

“There was good development, a great response from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the start,” he stated.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.

The researchers state that a crucial aspect of the plan would be the availability of desalination facilities. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be confined to coastal areas.

They are wishing to develop larger trials in desert locations 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 great, short-term option to environment change.

“I believe it is an excellent idea due to the fact that we are actually extracting carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is completely different in between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s computations the expenses of suppressing carbon dioxide through 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 deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel state the researchers, supplying a financial return.

“Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this location are not persuaded. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely successful in handling dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the excellent, green hope the truth was really different.

“When jatropha was presented it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal land,” she stated.

“But there are frequently individuals who need limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as marginal.”

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely poisonous 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 massive plantations to deal with an issue these people didn’t actually trigger?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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