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