The right kind of tennis courts can absorb a lot of carbon dioxide

Green clay tennis courts are able to absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide via enhanced rock weathering, according to a new study

Enhanced rock weathering—the process of using silicate rocks like basalt to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the rocks’ chemical reaction with rainfall—has emerged in recent years as a promising method of reducing carbon emissions.

Green clay tennis courts in the US are made of metabasalt, a type of basalt with similar properties allowing for carbon sequestration.

“To mitigate climate change, we need to scale new technologies in addition to leveraging already-existing processes and infrastructure. Enhanced rock weathering started in agriculture, and we are now seeing creative and broad-ranging applications such as on coastlines, golf courses, and now our work on tennis courts,” says Jonathan Lambertopens in a new tab, an earth scientist and visiting assistant professor at the New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

Lambert and coauthor Frank J. Pavia, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, used a database of US tennis courts containing the location of the courts and the type of playing surface (hardcourt, clay, or grass) to calculate gross and net carbon sequestration rates. They analyzed data for 17,178 green clay courts.

They determined sequestration rates after factoring carbon emissions during mining and processing, transportation of materials to court locations, court construction, and maintenance. Carbon removal was calculated by factoring the type of basalt used, grain size of the rocks, court temperature, and chemical composition. They used similar models to estimate the emissions of hard courts.

The researchers found that the courts collectively remove approximately 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Among these courts, 80% of them reach net zero emissions fewer than 10 years after construction, and 92% of the courts reach net zero in fewer than 20 years. The median time for a green clay court to become net negative for carbon dioxide emissions is approximately 3.5 years.

Compared to ubiquitous hard courts, which are made of concrete and do not remove carbon through weathering, clay court construction emissions are 1.6 to 3 times lower, even before factoring in weathering.

Temperature and location for clay courts were strongly related to carbon sequestration as courts with the warmest temperatures and those closest to the primary basalt processing site in Virginia had the highest sequestration rates. A small number of courts (19) in the coldest regions and furthest away from the processing site likely never achieve net zero emissions.

“We see this work as a jumping off point for engaging and accessible climate solutions outreach, and also believe this strategy has legitimate potential to scale,” Lambert says.

“For new court construction, building a green clay court appears to have less climate impact than a hard court. Changes to the composition of the crushed rock on green clay courts and more advanced tracking of court maintenance could greatly increase the amount of carbon that can be verifiably sequestered. This provides a great opportunity to organizations and facilities that want to reduce their emissions.”

The research appears in Applied Geochemistry.

Source: NYU

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