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The About section of the Kiri Tree website says:

The tree is known to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions ten times more than the average tree and also in return produce ten times more oxygen (O2). It loves toxic waste and can be used to assist in organic remediation throughout the world.

What evidence exist that supports these claims about the properties of the Kiri Tree?

Sklivvz
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Mauricio Arias Olave
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    Is this claim common or notable? Was this brought up in the media recently or did you stumble upon it? –  Feb 08 '17 at 23:32
  • There appear to be several species of Paulownia trees. It appears that at least one [relevant study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2729643/) has been done on Paulownia elongata. That study's results were not consistent with the claim. However, the cited website appears to be talking about Paulownia tomentosa. – KAI Feb 09 '17 at 00:53
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    You need to consider that the amount of CO2 used by a tree is proportional to the mass of the tree, not its sheer size. P. tomentosa wood is very light, so its fast growth is probably not converting more CO2 than a slower-growing but denser hardwood. It's also (from personal experience) not that much faster growing than e.g. native cottonwood, and will die back to the ground in a hard frost. Sure is pretty in bloom, though :-) – jamesqf Feb 09 '17 at 01:03
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    I'm trying hard not to let my pedantry take over here. (1) Trees don't reduce CO2 emissions. They consume the resulting CO2, but the emission was still made. (2) Trees don't remediate CO2 emissions. They store the carbon for a few years, and then return it when they rot or are eaten. – Oddthinking Feb 09 '17 at 12:49
  • @DoritoStyle I check a video on a website of a newspaper called [Metro](https://www.metroecuador.com.ec/ec/estilodevida/2017/02/08/arbol-kiri-salvar-mundo.html) _from Ecuador_. I can't say or explain whether is notable or common. I'm curious about this issue. – Mauricio Arias Olave Feb 09 '17 at 13:33
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    @DoritoStyle: The idea rowing paulownia trees for big profits seems to be a small get-rich-quick scam. A couple of years back, there was an outfit trying to convince the county government to support a major plantation out in the local desert. Seaching for "paulownia tree scam" gets about 350K hits like this one: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-17/timber-investment-schemes-leave-hundreds-without-life-savings/6862060 – jamesqf Feb 09 '17 at 23:57
  • Good sleuth work! –  Feb 10 '17 at 01:29

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