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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 say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations could be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists state the idea is economically competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage projects.
But critics say the concept might be have unforeseen, negative effects consisting of driving up food prices.
The research study 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 really well adapted to extreme conditions including exceptionally dry deserts.
It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world due to the fact that its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha could capture as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their estimates on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
“The results are overwhelming,” stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
“There was excellent growth, a good reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the beginning,” he said.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.
The researchers state that a crucial element of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination facilities. This implies that initially, any plantations would be confined to coastal locations.
They are intending to develop bigger 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 good, short term solution to environment change.
“I think it is a great concept since we are really extracting co2 from the atmosphere – and it is totally various between drawing out and avoiding.”
According to the scientist’s estimations the costs of curbing co2 through the planting of trees would be 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 number of nations are currently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not just takes in CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel say the researchers, providing an economic return.
“Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” said Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this location are not encouraged. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But many of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful 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 excellent, green hope the truth was very various.
“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 people who need minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we wouldn’t class the land as limited.”
She mentioned that jatropha is highly hazardous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had issues about the fairness of the concept.
“It is still somebody else’s land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to deal with an issue these individuals didn’t in fact cause?”
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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