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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 reporter, BBC News

Scientists say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations could be a reliable method of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists state the concept is financially competitive with modern carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics say the concept might be have unpredicted, negative impacts including increasing food costs.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is really well adapted to extreme conditions consisting of incredibly arid deserts.

It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.

In this research study, German scientists revealed that one hectare of jatropha could catch approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

“The results are frustrating,” said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

“There was excellent growth, a good response from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much bigger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the start,” he stated.

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

The scientists say that an important element of the plan would be the availability of desalination facilities. This implies that initially, any plantations would be restricted to seaside areas.

They are hoping to develop larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that just offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, short-term solution to climate modification.

“I think it is a good concept since we are truly drawing out co2 from the environment – and it is completely various between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s calculations the expenses of curbing carbon dioxide 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 presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not just takes in CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel state the scientists, providing a financial return.

“Jatropha is ideal to be developed into biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.

But other experts in this location are not convinced. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really effective in managing dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the excellent, green hope the truth was really various.

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

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

She explained that jatropha is highly hazardous and can 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 enter and grow these massive plantations to deal with an issue these individuals didn’t actually trigger?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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