Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon to curb 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 areas might be a reliable method of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers say the idea is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage tasks.

But critics say the idea could be have unforeseen, negative effects including driving up food rates.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is really well adapted to harsh conditions consisting of very dry 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 scientists revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The researchers 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 development, a good reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much bigger scale, for instance ten 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 automobiles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year period.

The scientists state that a crucial element of the plan would be the schedule of desalination centers. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be restricted to coastal locations.

They are intending to establish bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that simply offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, brief term solution to environment change.

“I believe it is an excellent idea since we are really drawing out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is completely different in between drawing out and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s estimations the costs of suppressing 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 variety of nations are presently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the researchers, 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 point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But many of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really effective in managing 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 fantastic, green hope the reality was really different.

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

“But there are often individuals who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we wouldn’t class the land as marginal.”

She pointed out that jatropha is highly hazardous 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 somebody else’s land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to handle 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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