Researchers studied green clay tennis courts in the United States that are made from metabasalt, a type of basalt rock. They used a database of court locations and surface types and analysed 17,178 green clay courts.
The team calculated gross and net carbon removal, and they included emissions from mining, processing, transport, court construction and maintenance. They estimate the courts together remove about 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Most courts become net zero in under ten years, and almost all do so within twenty years. Courts in warmer areas and those closer to a basalt processing site in Virginia remove the most carbon.
Difficult words
- metabasalt — a dark volcanic rock used for construction
- basalt — a common dark volcanic rock
- carbon removal — process to take greenhouse gas out of the air
- emission — gases released into the air from activityemissions
- process — changing raw material into a usable productprocessing
- net zero — when total emissions and removals balance each other
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Discussion questions
- Do you think these courts help the environment? Why or why not?
- Would you prefer to play tennis on a green clay court or another surface? Why?
- How long do most courts take to become net zero?
