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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 state that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers state the concept is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.
But critics say the idea could be have unforeseen, negative effects including driving up food costs.
The research has actually been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to harsh conditions including very dry deserts.
It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world because 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 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 great development, a good reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,” he said.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by vehicles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years duration.
The scientists state that a vital element of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This means that at first, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.
They are wanting to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that simply offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, short term solution to environment change.
“I believe it is a great idea since we are actually extracting carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is entirely different between extracting and preventing.”
According to the scientist’s computations the expenses of suppressing co2 by means of the planting of trees would be in 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 number of countries are presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.
Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel state the scientists, offering a financial return.
“Jatropha is perfect to be become biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.
But other professionals in this area are not encouraged. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But a lot of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in managing dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was once seen as the terrific, green hope the reality was really different.
“When jatropha was introduced it was viewed as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land,” she said.
“But there are often individuals who require limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as minimal.”
She explained that jatropha is extremely toxic 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 someone else’s land. Why go in and grow these huge 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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