Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to curb CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists state that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an method of suppressing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics state the idea could be have unanticipated, negative effects consisting of increasing food prices.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is very well adapted to extreme conditions including incredibly dry 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 scientists revealed that one hectare of jatropha might catch as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The researchers based their estimates on trees currently 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 excellent development, a great action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the start,” he said.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.

The scientists state that a vital element of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This indicates that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.

They are wanting to establish larger 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 could be an excellent, brief term option to environment change.

“I think it is a good concept due to the fact that we are actually extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is entirely different between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s computations the expenses of curbing co2 via 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 countries are currently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not just absorbs 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 state the scientists, providing a financial return.

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

But other experts in this location are not convinced. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a number of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in dealing with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was when seen as the fantastic, green hope the reality was very different.

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

“But there are often people 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 extremely toxic and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the idea.

“It is still someone else’s land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to deal with a problem these people didn’t in fact cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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