future options for carbon management in deserts
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Future Options for Carbon Management in Deserts. Craig James General Manager Commercialisation and Communications, Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs, Australia ABARE Conference Alice Springs 29 October 2008. Australia’s deserts. Australia is - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Future Options for Carbon Management
in Deserts
Craig JamesGeneral Manager Commercialisation and Communications,
Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs, Australia
ABARE Conference Alice Springs 29 October 2008
Australia’s deserts• Australia is
– driest inhabited continent in the world– 70% of it is either arid or semi arid land.
• ‘Deserts’ consist of– Arid zones - average rainfall of 250 mm or less– semi arid zone - average rainfall between 250-350 mm.
• Little is known about the carbon cycle in the Australian deserts
Arid and semi-arid areas
Projected climate changes
Predicted percentage change in annual rainfall by 2050, with respect to 1990 levels
Trends in annual maximum, mean and minimum temperature 1910-2002
National and international setting
• Kyoto Protocol• Garnaut report
– Green Paper: Investing in research and development on low emissions technologies
– Government financial investments ($1.89B)
• Australia’s National Carbon Accounting system (NCAS): – “system to account for greenhouse emissions from land-based
sectors” (Garnaut 2008)
• Grass roots movements– 50/50 by 20/20– Community owned wind farms
How can deserts position for a carbon economy?
1. Bio-sequestration
2. Deferring greenhouse gas (GHG) release
3. Reducing net CO2 release from fuels (biofuels)
4. Producing green energy
1. Bio-sequestration
• Growing carbon ‘hungry’ plants through irrigation– Possible with suitable
ground water resources but limited.
– Economically uncompetitive (?)
Source: Department for the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
1. Bio-sequestration
• Carbon storage in soils, plants and dead or decaying matter– Encourage long-lived perennial plants growing on
natural rainfall– A new view of the woody weed problem in historically-
overgrazed lands– Low growth rates– Low carbon / ha but orders of
magnitude more hectares– Economics unknown
2. Deferring GHG release
• Fire and Pastoral land management
– Sequester carbon (stock) or change emission regimes
– Value in these as off-sets
Photo courtesy Dick Kimber
Fire management
• West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Project– Changes in fire regimes to lower emissions and store
more carbon
• WA study to commence– Pilbara region. Arid regions have carbon
sequestration potential (Alchin 2007)
• Need to evaluate options for rangeland management (eg Heckbert 2008)
• More accurate information of rangeland carbon storage and sink potential needed
Photo courtesy CSIRO
Desert wildfires
Strategies for carbon grazing
• Vegetation recovery under lighter grazing regimes to increase stored carbon in perennial vegetation
• More stored soil carbon• Rotational grazing could achieve these
goals– Does extra infrastructure create more CO2
than is saved?– Cost/benefits are unclear
Pastoral management systems
• Telemetry technologies bring management data and control of equipment into the homestead.– Less need to drive around – half the number
of km per year on bore runs• 10,000 km not driven = 3300kg of CO2
• 3,000 km not driven = 990 kg of CO2
– Savings of $25,000-$35,000 in fuel costs
3. Biofuels
• Transport fuels• Power generation (back-up to solar, wind)
• Creating biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels– Use ground water resources to grow perennial vegetation– Harvest biomass to make biofuels (seed oil etc)– Renewable local production instead of non-renewable fossil
sources– Already being explored by DAFWA
• SA Farmers Federation guarantee pure bio-diesel 100% carbon neutral. – planting of native mallee trees which soak up carbon dioxide as
they grow, acting as a "carbon sink". www.farmersfuel.com.au
Exploratory studies
• CSIRO Reports findings– The cost of producing biofuels relative to
petrol and diesel is the fundamental factor influencing the commercial viability of biofuels
– Sustainability is a critical issue for the biofuels industry - there is no point in replacing one unsustainable system with another
Department of Rural Industries, Research and Development Corporation: Biofuels in Australia – an overview of issues and prospects June 2007
4. Producing green energy
• Desert natural resources– Solar power– Geothermal energy
Incident solar energy
GeothermalCentral Australian Geothermal Energy Province, with connections into South Australia and Queensland and connecting the national grid
Source: Geodynamics. IRM Company ShowPage
Future economy
Cost of energy Solvable Photovoltaic
Fuel cells (Hydrogen solar)
Cost of transport Partially solvable
Biofuels perhaps
Creator of green energy
Opportunity Photovoltaic, geothermal, high voltage DC
Large national infrastructure project
Selling carbon storage (offsets)
Limited opportunity
Already happening
Providing jobs Opportunity Livelihoods in land management
Installation and maintenance of energy systems
Growing plants for bio-sequestration and biofuels