Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News
Scientists state that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas could be a reliable way of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists say the concept is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage jobs.
But critics state the concept might be have unpredicted, unfavorable effects up food prices.
The research study has actually been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is very well adjusted to extreme conditions including incredibly dry deserts.
It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers showed that one hectare of jatropha could capture as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The scientists based their price quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
"The outcomes are frustrating," 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 problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the start," he stated.
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 twenty years period.
The scientists say that an important element of the plan would be the schedule of desalination centers. This means that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.
They are intending to develop bigger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short-term solution to climate modification.
"I think it is a good concept due to the fact that we are truly drawing out co2 from the environment - and it is completely various in between extracting and avoiding."
According to the researcher's computations the costs of suppressing co2 via the planting of trees would be in 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 variety of countries are presently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.
Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the scientists, supplying an economic return.
"Jatropha is ideal to be turned into biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," said Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this area are not persuaded. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely effective in handling dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was once seen as the fantastic, green hope the truth was extremely different.
"When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land," she stated.
"But there are often people who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we would not class the land as limited."
She explained that jatropha is highly poisonous and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the concept.
"It is still someone else's land. Why enter and grow these enormous plantations to handle a problem these people 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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Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
faustino01873 edited this page 2025-01-11 15:46:00 +00:00