'Wildebeest and mirrors' to halt climate change

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 19:54

FILLING parts of the Sahara desert with mirrors to create clean energy and making livestock behave like herds of wildebeest to lock in carbon, were among a number of innovative proposals presented yesterday to help tackle climate change.

Innovators from across the world gathered in Manchester to present plans to a panel of experts on how greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced.

The best proposals put forward at the Manchester International Festival could go on to become more widely used if they convince investors and policy makers.

Dr Gerry Wolff, formerly from the University of Wales, Bangor, advocated the use of mirrors to capture energy in places such as Africa's Sahara Desert.

Dr Wolff explained that mirrors positioned to reflect sunlight onto special power stations could provide huge amounts of energy.

He said: "The mirrors can focus the sun's rays and there is a lot of energy in these rays.

"The major attraction of this is it's very clean – there's very little pollution."

Chartered accountant and farmer Tony Lovell from Queensland, Australia, told the conference that huge amounts of carbon could be stored by farming cows in a manner that mimics wild herds.

He explained that the world's natural grasslands when grazed naturally by animals such as wildebeest, could lock in or sequester massive amounts of carbon.

But traditional farming methods meant livestock graze in a totally different manner which damages the landscape and actually releases huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere instead.

Dan Reicher, director of climate change and energy at Google is one of the conference judges who will cast their eyes over 20 proposals.

The findings of the conference will be presented as the Manchester Report.