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Empress trees absorb about 103 tons of carbon a year per acre

bloomberg.com

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Re: Empress trees absorb about 103 tons of carbon a year per acre

#21

Post by Maximus9000 »

ksec wrote: post #11
xahrepap wrote: post #2

I planted one of these trees a few years ago and I think it's absolutely gorgeous. I can't get over how absolutely huge the leaves get. A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds.

>A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds. I reread the article and I see no mention of it?

It's in a caption of one of the images:

> "After the first year of growth, trees are cut down to the stump, the rest sold for timber. This process, called coppicing, promotes bigger and straighter growth the following year."

Re: Empress trees absorb about 103 tons of carbon a year per acre

#22

Post by olliej »

ksec wrote: post #11
xahrepap wrote: post #2

I planted one of these trees a few years ago and I think it's absolutely gorgeous. I can't get over how absolutely huge the leaves get. A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds.

>A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds. I reread the article and I see no mention of it?

They mention it’s “easy to regrow from the stump” what that means is cutting it down doesn’t kill it. Additionally many trees that easily regrow from a cut stump also regrow/produce new tree from their roots.

Seems like a recipe for an invasive plant (much like those awful pear trees the were used for landscaping)

Re: Empress trees absorb about 103 tons of carbon a year per acre

#25

Post by [deleted] »

ksec wrote: post #11
xahrepap wrote: post #2

I planted one of these trees a few years ago and I think it's absolutely gorgeous. I can't get over how absolutely huge the leaves get. A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds.

>A lot of people hate them though, for the same reason outlined in the article: you can't kill them. Many consider them weeds. I reread the article and I see no mention of it?

[deleted]

Re: Empress trees absorb about 103 tons of carbon a year per acre

#26

Post by evanb »

mal10c wrote: post #4

I think this is a neat idea but have one question. I'm not a chemist but am curious what happens to all that carbon after it's taken in by the tree. Does that carbon become something else? Or does it just kind of hang out in the tree until the tree dies? Once the tree dies, does all that carbon just go back to the atmosphere again? Thanks for any insight!

The carbon goes back into the atmosphere if you burn it. If you just let it decay, turn into top soil, and ultimately become entombed by the surface of the Earth it will, ultimately, suffer the fate of most of the ancient plants we today burn in their carbon-storage form: underground oil.

Re: Empress trees absorb about 103 tons of carbon a year per acre

#27

Post by ksec »

I thought Bamboo was the fastest growing tree? I remember it grows more than an inch every hour. Since no one has done mass planting of Bamboo, there must be some down fall that wasn't well known?

Edit: Turns out Bamboo is classified as plant. But the question remains the same.

Re: Empress trees absorb about 103 tons of carbon a year per acre

#28

Post by Spellman »

mal10c wrote: post #4

I think this is a neat idea but have one question. I'm not a chemist but am curious what happens to all that carbon after it's taken in by the tree. Does that carbon become something else? Or does it just kind of hang out in the tree until the tree dies? Once the tree dies, does all that carbon just go back to the atmosphere again? Thanks for any insight!

As it turns out, the vast majority of any plant is actually Carbon! That it got from the AIR!!!! I remember when my friends' brains were blown that all trees are essentially made out of "air" that got converted to wood.

Technically it's the 2xCO_2 -> 2xO_2+2C and the Carbon that sticks around becomes the wood. (also insert Water and energy into that equation. Photosynthesis is crazy).

And yes, if it gets burned or decomposed that carbon can get released back into the air (usually as CO2) but if you instead bury it you essentially lock it into solid form. And over years and years that becomes oil!

Re: Empress trees absorb about 103 tons of carbon a year per acre

#30

Post by Maximus9000 »

mal10c wrote: post #4

I think this is a neat idea but have one question. I'm not a chemist but am curious what happens to all that carbon after it's taken in by the tree. Does that carbon become something else? Or does it just kind of hang out in the tree until the tree dies? Once the tree dies, does all that carbon just go back to the atmosphere again? Thanks for any insight!

As others have said the carbon is locked into the physical wood. When it rots or burns, that carbon is released back.

However, you can hijack the process a little and keep the carbon locked away by doing things. You could use the wood as lumber or you could burn the wood in a special way which produces biochar.

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