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Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to suppress CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists say that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics state the idea might be have unforeseen, unfavorable effects consisting of driving up food costs.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is effectively adjusted to harsh conditions consisting of extremely arid deserts.

It is currently 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 could record as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

“There was good development, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying 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 twenty years duration.

The scientists state that a vital element of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination facilities. This means that at first, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.

They are wishing to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, brief term solution to climate change.

“I think it is a good idea because we are truly extracting co2 from the environment – and it is completely various in between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the researcher’s calculations the expenses of curbing carbon dioxide 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 presently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just takes in 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, providing a financial 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 encouraged. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely successful in handling dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the fantastic, green hope the truth was extremely various.

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

“But there are typically people who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as marginal.”

She pointed out that jatropha is highly harmful and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns 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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