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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 big numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations might be a reliable method of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers say the idea is financially competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage tasks.
But critics state the idea might be have unpredicted, unfavorable effects consisting of driving up food rates.
The research study has actually been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is effectively adjusted to extreme conditions consisting of very arid deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world because its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers revealed that one hectare of jatropha might record approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
“The outcomes are frustrating,” said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
“There was good growth, an excellent 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 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 cars and trucks and trucks in Germany over a twenty years duration.
The scientists say that a crucial aspect of the strategy would be the availability of desalination facilities. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be confined to areas.
They are hoping to establish bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that just offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short-term service to environment modification.
“I think it is a great concept due to the fact that we are truly extracting carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is totally different between extracting and avoiding.”
According to the researcher’s computations the expenses of curbing co2 by means of the planting of trees would be in 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 countries are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel say the researchers, providing an economic return.
“Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this area are not convinced. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But much of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in coping with dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the terrific, green hope the truth was really various.
“When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land,” she stated.
“But there are frequently people who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as minimal.”
She mentioned that jatropha is extremely harmful and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the concept.
“It is still somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle a problem these people didn’t really trigger?”
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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