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Month: October 2022

Sri Lanka’s first ever agrivoltaic solar power plant opened

Posted on by dishanth
Sri Lanka’s first ever agrivoltaic solar power plant opened

Solar Universe, the 10MW solar power plant in Vavunathivu, Batticaloa was declared open today.

Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera announced the opening of the 10 MW Ground Mount Solar Power Plant.

Minister Wijesekera said that invested and developed by WindForce PLC, Vidullanka PLC, and HiEnergy Services (Pvt) Limited, it is the 1st Agrivoltaic Power Plant in Sri Lanka.

The Minister further said that the new 10MW solar power plant in Vavunathivu will add 20 GWh annually to the National Grid. (NewsWire).

 

 

 

Source NEWSWIRE

 

Plastic pollution: This tiny worm can dissolve plastic bags with its drool

Posted on by dishanth
Plastic pollution: This tiny worm can dissolve plastic bags with its drool

A tiny wax worm can dissolve plastic pollution with its saliva, new research has found.

Plastic can take up to 1000 years to decompose, clogging up landfill and polluting the ocean.

But climate campaigners have recruited an unlikely new ally in their fight to reduce this waste – wax worms, the moth larvae that infest beehives.

The worm’s saliva contains two enzymes that can degrade polyethylene, a tough material used in plastic bags and bottles.

According to Spanish researchers, one hour’s exposure to the worm’s saliva degrades the material as much as years of weathering.

The impetus for the study came in 2017 when a scientist – and amateur beekeeper – was cleaning out an infested hive.

The larvae had started eating holes in a plastic refuse bag.

“To the best of our knowledge, these enzymes (in the saliva) are the first animal enzymes with this capability, opening the way to potential solutions for plastic waste management through bio-recycling/up-cycling,” the research report – published in Nature this month – reads.

 

Scientists have discovered that enzymes in wax worm saliva dissolve plastic

 

How bad is plastic for the planet?

Humans have littered the entire planet with damaging plastic debris.

The hardy material takes millions of years to decompose. Of the 10 billion tonnes of plastic that have ever been created, a whopping 6 billion sits in landfill sites or pollute the environment.

This has a devastating impact on wildlife – more than 90 per cent of the world’s seabirds have plastic in their guts.

Recycling can help mitigate some of the worst effects of plastics. Yet a 2022 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that just 9 per cent of plastic is successfully recycled.

This is where the wax worms come in. They can help dissolve polyethylene, which accounts for roughly 30 per cent of plastic production worldwide.

Wax worms aren’t the only solution that scientists have come up with to combat our ever-growing plastic problem.

 

Plastic-munching superworms

From eating less meat to buying local ingredients, there are lots of ways to make environmentally friendly food choices. And according to a 2022 Australian study, certain types of worms can adopt an eco-diet too – but not in the way you might think.

Queensland scientists have discovered that the Zophobas morio – a type of beetle larvae commonly known as a superworm – can survive on polystyrene alone.

Over three weeks, the research team fed three groups of superworms different diets.

The worms on the plastic diet acted like “mini recycling plants,” lead author Dr Chris Rinke explains, destroying the plastic with their unique gut enzymes.

They even put on weight in the process.

“[The superworms] shred the polystyrene with their mouths and then fed it to the bacteria in their gut,” says Dr Rinke.

If scientists can work out how to grow the gut enzyme in a lab, they could use it to dissolve plastics on a mass scale, forming these byproducts into bioplastics.

“We can then look into how we can upscale this process to a level required for an entire recycling plant,” said Co-author of the research, PhD candidate Jiarui Sun.

Given that polystyrene accounts for around one-tenth of all non-fibrous plastics, this would be a significant breakthrough.

 

 

Source euronews.green

 

 

Cigarette butts are turned into mosquito repellent and stuffing for soft toys at this Indian factory

Posted on by dishanth
Cigarette butts are turned into mosquito repellent and stuffing for soft toys at this Indian factory

An Indian factory is recycling cigarette butts into stuffing for soft toys.

An estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide each year, 90 per cent of which contain non-biodegradable plastic filters.

Reprocessing them into a range of products, including toys and pillows, is the brainchild of businessman Naman Gupta.

“We started with 10 grams (of fibre per day) and now we are doing 1,000 kilograms… Annually we are able to recycle millions of cigarette butts,” he says.

At his factory on the on the outskirts of New Delhi, an all-woman team manually separates the butts into fiber, paper and leftovers.

 

Women workers make soft toys using recycled fibre separated from cigarette filter tips at a cigarette butts recycling factory in Noida, India.

 

The paper is converted into a pulp, mixed with an organic binder and turned into burnable mosquito repellant.

The fibre is cleaned and bleached with organic chemicals that neutralise its toxins. The resulting white stuffing is used in soft toys and pillows.

At Gupta’sfactory on the outskirts of the Indian capital, workers also separate out the butts’ tobacco, which is turned into compost powder.

His company – Code Effort – has recycled over 300 million cigarette butts from the city streets so far.

 

Recycled fibre made from cigarette filter tips is seen in a cotton gin machine at a cigarette butt recycling factory in Noida, India.

 

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 267 million people, nearly 30 per cent of India’s adult population, are tobacco users, and butts litter urban streets where general cleanliness standards are poor.
“(So) working here also helps keep our environment clean,” says Poonam, an employee in Gupta’s factory.

Cigarette butts are the most discarded waste item worldwide according to the UN Environment Programme.

Many of these end up in our oceans and on our beaches with disastrous consequences for marine environments.

Cigarette filters are made out of non-biodegradable cellulose acetate fibres, which break down into microplastics and end up being consumed by marine life and birds.

In 2019, 5.9 per cent of the EU population aged 15 years and over consumed at least 20 cigarettes per day, and 12.6 per cent consumed less than 20, according to Eurostat.

In Europe, companies like France’s MéGo! have also found inventive ways to reuse cigarette butts, recycling them into furniture like tables and benches.

 

 

Source  euronews.green

Turning carbon dioxide into valuable products

Posted on by dishanth
Turning carbon dioxide into valuable products

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to climate change and a significant product of many human activities, notably industrial manufacturing. A major goal in the energy field has been to chemically convert emitted CO2 into valuable chemicals or fuels. But while CO2 is available in abundance, it has not yet been widely used to generate value-added products. Why not?

The reason is that CO2 molecules are highly stable and therefore not prone to being chemically converted to a different form. Researchers have sought materials and device designs that could help spur that conversion, but nothing has worked well enough to yield an efficient, cost-effective system.

Two years ago, Ariel Furst, the Raymond (1921) and Helen St. Laurent Career Development Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, decided to try using something different—a material that gets more attention in discussions of biology than of chemical engineering. Already, results from work in her lab suggest that her unusual approach is paying off.

 

The stumbling block

The challenge begins with the first step in the CO2 conversion process. Before being transformed into a useful product, CO2 must be chemically converted into carbon monoxide (CO). That conversion can be encouraged using electrochemistry, a process in which input voltage provides the extra energy needed to make the stable CO2 molecules react. The problem is that achieving the CO2-to-CO conversion requires large energy inputs—and even then, CO makes up only a small fraction of the products that are formed.

To explore opportunities for improving this process, Furst and her research group focused on the electrocatalyst, a material that enhances the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process. The catalyst is key to successful operation. Inside an electrochemical device, the catalyst is often suspended in an aqueous (water-based) solution. When an electric potential (essentially a voltage) is applied to a submerged electrode, dissolved CO2 will—helped by the catalyst—be converted to CO.

But there’s one stumbling block: The catalyst and the CO2 must meet on the surface of the electrode for the reaction to occur. In some studies, the catalyst is dispersed in the solution, but that approach requires more catalyst and isn’t very efficient, according to Furst. “You have to both wait for the diffusion of CO2 to the catalyst and for the catalyst to reach the electrode before the reaction can occur,” she explains. As a result, researchers worldwide have been exploring different methods of “immobilizing” the catalyst on the electrode.

 

 

Connecting the catalyst and the electrode

Before Furst could delve into that challenge, she needed to decide which of the two types of CO2 conversion catalysts to work with: the traditional solid-state catalyst or a catalyst made up of small molecules. In examining the literature, she concluded that small-molecule catalysts held the most promise. While their conversion efficiency tends to be lower than that of solid-state versions, molecular catalysts offer one important advantage: They can be tuned to emphasize reactions and products of interest.

Two approaches are commonly used to immobilize small-molecule catalysts on an electrode. One involves linking the catalyst to the electrode by strong covalent bonds—a type of bond in which atoms share electrons; the result is a strong, essentially permanent connection. The other sets up a non-covalent attachment between the catalyst and the electrode; unlike a covalent bond, this connection can easily be broken.

Neither approach is ideal. In the former case, the catalyst and electrode are firmly attached, ensuring efficient reactions; but when the activity of the catalyst degrades over time (which it will), the electrode can no longer be accessed. In the latter case, a degraded catalyst can be removed; but the exact placement of the small molecules of the catalyst on the electrode can’t be controlled, leading to an inconsistent, often decreasing, catalytic efficiency—and simply increasing the amount of catalyst on the electrode surface without concern for where the molecules are placed doesn’t solve the problem.

What was needed was a way to position the small-molecule catalyst firmly and accurately on the electrode and then release it when it degrades. For that task, Furst turned to what she and her team regard as a kind of “programmable molecular Velcro”: deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.

 

Adding DNA to the mix

Mention DNA to most people, and they think of biological functions in living things. But the members of Furst’s lab view DNA as more than just genetic code. “DNA has these really cool physical properties as a biomaterial that people don’t often think about,” she says. “DNA can be used as a molecular Velcro that can stick things together with very high precision.”

Furst knew that DNA sequences had previously been used to immobilize molecules on surfaces for other purposes. So she devised a plan to use DNA to direct the immobilization of catalysts for CO2 conversion.

Her approach depends on a well-understood behavior of DNA called hybridization. The familiar DNA structure is a double helix that forms when two complementary strands connect. When the sequence of bases (the four building blocks of DNA) in the individual strands match up, hydrogen bonds form between complementary bases, firmly linking the strands together.

Using that behavior for catalyst immobilization involves two steps. First, the researchers attach a single strand of DNA to the electrode. Then they attach a complementary strand to the catalyst that is floating in the aqueous solution. When the latter strand gets near the former, the two strands hybridize; they become linked by multiple hydrogen bonds between properly paired bases. As a result, the catalyst is firmly affixed to the electrode by means of two interlocked, self-assembled DNA strands, one connected to the electrode and the other to the catalyst.

Better still, the two strands can be detached from one another. “The connection is stable, but if we heat it up, we can remove the secondary strand that has the catalyst on it,” says Furst. “So we can de-hybridize it. That allows us to recycle our electrode surfaces—without having to disassemble the device or do any harsh chemical steps.”

 

Experimental investigation

To explore that idea, Furst and her team—postdocs Gang Fan and Thomas Gill, former graduate student Nathan Corbin Ph.D. ’21, and former postdoc Amruta Karbelkar—performed a series of experiments using three small-molecule catalysts based on porphyrins, a group of compounds that are biologically important for processes ranging from enzyme activity to oxygen transport. Two of the catalysts involve a synthetic porphyrin plus a metal center of either cobalt or iron. The third catalyst is hemin, a natural porphyrin compound used to treat porphyria, a set of disorders that can affect the nervous system. “So even the small-molecule catalysts we chose are kind of inspired by nature,” comments Furst.

In their experiments, the researchers first needed to modify single strands of DNA and deposit them on one of the electrodes submerged in the solution inside their electrochemical cell. Though this sounds straightforward, it did require some new chemistry. Led by Karbelkar and third-year undergraduate researcher Rachel Ahlmark, the team developed a fast, easy way to attach DNA to electrodes. For this work, the researchers’ focus was on attaching DNA, but the “tethering” chemistry they developed can also be used to attach enzymes (protein catalysts), and Furst believes it will be highly useful as a general strategy for modifying carbon electrodes.

Once the single strands of DNA were deposited on the electrode, the researchers synthesized complementary strands and attached to them one of the three catalysts. When the DNA strands with the catalyst were added to the solution in the electrochemical cell, they readily hybridized with the DNA strands on the electrode. After half-an-hour, the researchers applied a voltage to the electrode to chemically convert CO2 dissolved in the solution and used a gas chromatograph to analyze the makeup of the gases produced by the conversion.

The team found that when the DNA-linked catalysts were freely dispersed in the solution, they were highly soluble—even when they included small-molecule catalysts that don’t dissolve in water on their own. Indeed, while porphyrin-based catalysts in solution often stick together, once the DNA strands were attached, that counterproductive behavior was no longer evident.

The DNA-linked catalysts in solution were also more stable than their unmodified counterparts. They didn’t degrade at voltages that caused the unmodified catalysts to degrade. “So just attaching that single strand of DNA to the catalyst in solution makes those catalysts more stable,” says Furst. “We don’t even have to put them on the electrode surface to see improved stability.” When converting CO2 in this way, a stable catalyst will give a steady current over time. Experimental results showed that adding the DNA prevented the catalyst from degrading at voltages of interest for practical devices. Moreover, with all three catalysts in solution, the DNA modification significantly increased the production of CO per minute.

Allowing the DNA-linked catalyst to hybridize with the DNA connected to the electrode brought further improvements, even compared to the same DNA-linked catalyst in solution. For example, as a result of the DNA-directed assembly, the catalyst ended up firmly attached to the electrode, and the catalyst stability was further enhanced. Despite being highly soluble in aqueous solutions, the DNA-linked catalyst molecules remained hybridized at the surface of the electrode, even under harsh experimental conditions.

Immobilizing the DNA-linked catalyst on the electrode also significantly increased the rate of CO production. In a series of experiments, the researchers monitored the CO production rate with each of their catalysts in solution without attached DNA strands—the conventional setup—and then with them immobilized by DNA on the electrode. With all three catalysts, the amount of CO generated per minute was far higher when the DNA-linked catalyst was immobilized on the electrode.

In addition, immobilizing the DNA-linked catalyst on the electrode greatly increased the “selectivity” in terms of the products. One persistent challenge in using CO2 to generate CO in aqueous solutions is that there is an inevitable competition between the formation of CO and the formation of hydrogen. That tendency was eased by adding DNA to the catalyst in solution—and even more so when the catalyst was immobilized on the electrode using DNA. For both the cobalt-porphyrin catalyst and the hemin-based catalyst, the formation of CO relative to hydrogen was significantly higher with the DNA-linked catalyst on the electrode than in solution. With the iron-porphyrin catalyst they were about the same. “With the iron, it doesn’t matter whether it’s in solution or on the electrode,” Furst explains. “Both of them have selectivity for CO, so that’s good, too.”

 

Progress and plans

Furst and her team have now demonstrated that their DNA-based approach combines the advantages of the traditional solid-state catalysts and the newer small-molecule ones. In their experiments, they achieved the highly efficient chemical conversion of CO2 to CO and also were able to control the mix of products formed. And they believe that their technique should prove scalable: DNA is inexpensive and widely available, and the amount of catalyst required is several orders of magnitude lower when it’s immobilized using DNA.

Based on her work thus far, Furst hypothesizes that the structure and spacing of the small molecules on the electrode may directly impact both catalytic efficiency and product selectivity. Using DNA to control the precise positioning of her small-molecule catalysts, she plans to evaluate those impacts and then extrapolate design parameters that can be applied to other classes of energy-conversion catalysts. Ultimately, she hopes to develop a predictive algorithm that researchers can use as they design electrocatalytic systems for a wide variety of applications.

 

 

Source  Phys

Onshore algae farms could feed the world sustainably

Posted on by dishanth
Onshore algae farms could feed the world sustainably

How do we increase food production by more than 50%, on a limited amount of arable land, to feed a projected 10 billion people by 2050?

The solution could come in the form of nutritious and protein-dense microalgae (single-celled), grown in onshore, seawater-fed aquaculture systems.

A paper, “Transforming the Future of Marine Aquaculture: A Circular Economy Approach,” published in the September issue of Oceanography, describes how growing algae onshore could close a projected gap in society’s future nutritional demands while also improving environmental sustainability.

“We have an opportunity to grow food that is highly nutritious, fast-growing, and we can do it in environments where we’re not competing for other uses,” said Charles Greene, professor emeritus of earth and atmospheric sciences and the paper’s senior author. “And because we’re growing it in relatively enclosed and controlled facilities, we don’t have the same kind of environmental impacts.”

Even as the Earth’s population grows in the coming decades, climate change, limited arable land, lack of freshwater and environmental degradation will all constrain the amount of food that can be grown, according to the paper.

 

Microalgae cultivation facility along the Kona Coast of Hawaii’s Big Island.

 

“We just can’t meet our goals with the way we currently produce food and our dependence on terrestrial agriculture,” Greene said.

With wild fish stocks already heavily exploited, and with constraints on marine finfish, shellfish, and seaweed aquaculture in the coastal ocean, Greene and colleagues argue for growing algae in onshore aquaculture facilities. GIS-based models, developed by former Cornell graduate student, Celina Scott-Buechler ’18, M.S. ’21, predict yields based on annual sunlight, topography, and other environmental and logistical factors. The model results reveal that the best locations for onshore algae farming facilities lie along the coasts of the Global South, including desert environments.

“Algae can actually become the breadbasket for the Global South,” Greene said. “In that narrow strip of land, we can produce more than all the protein that the world will need.”

Along with high protein content, the researchers noted that algae provide nutrients lacking in vegetarian diets, such as essential amino acids and minerals found in meat and omega-3 fatty acids often sourced in fish and seafood.

Algae, which grow 10 times faster than traditional crops, can be produced in a manner that is more efficient than agriculture in its use of nutrients. For example, when farmers add nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers to grow terrestrial crops, about half runs off fields and pollutes waterways. With algae grown in enclosed facilities, excess nutrients can be captured and reused.

Similarly, carbon dioxide must be added to aquaculture ponds to grow algae. Researchers and companies have been experimenting with adding algae to construction materials and cement, where the carbon gets sequestered and removed from the atmosphere. “If we use algae in these long-lived structural materials, then we have the potential to be carbon negative, and part of the solution to climate change,” Greene said.

One challenge is that sourcing CO2 is currently expensive and energy inefficient, but engineers are experimenting with concentrated solar technologies that use mirrors to focus and concentrate sunlight to heat a working fluid, which in turn can be used in direct air capture technologies that capture carbon dioxide from the air.

Also, while algae farming solves many food-related and environmental problems on paper, it can only be successful if people adopt it in diets and for other uses. Adding nutritious algae as a major ingredient or supplement in plant-based meats, which currently rely on less nutritious pea and soy, is one possibility.

Co-author Xingen Lei, professor of animal science at Cornell, and other colleagues have found that when algae is added to chicken feed, hens lay eggs with triple the amount of omega-3 fatty acids as normal eggs.

A follow-up perspectives piece that highlights and expands on the points of this paper, will appear in the October issue of PLoS Biology. Scott-Buechler, currently a doctoral student at Stanford, is a coauthor on both works.

The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, among others.

 

 

Source Cornell Chronicle

Surviving to thriving in the low-carbon economy

Posted on by dishanth
Surviving to thriving in the low-carbon economy

Climate change presents complex challenges for businesses, so how can sustainability teams move from surviving to thriving in the low-carbon economy?
At the end of July, the UK government’s net-zero strategy was found to be ‘unlawful’ in the High Court, marking the latest high-profile litigation case to find in favour of climate activists. This sort of action is neither new nor unique and the impact of cases like this reaches beyond constitutional reform and far into the business world.

The low-carbon economy is complicated. Litigation is just one test that can await businesses as they face down the very real and very current challenges presented by climate change. The risk of inaction can lead to customer attrition, supply-chain breakdown, reputational damage, direct legal action and, ultimately, serious financial impact. It has never been more important for companies to move the marker from merely surviving amidst these complex challenges to unearthing the opportunities and thriving as a business.

 

 

Taking in the view
Often overlooked, transition risks, business-related risks that follow social, economic and political trends related to a low-carbon and more climate-friendly future, are, by their very nature, more near term – presenting a significant challenge for businesses, now. We live in a fickle, fast-moving world. Consumer sentiment ebbs and flows on the rising tides of popular opinion; investors decide which companies dive, survive and thrive; and reputations can be wiped out with one extreme event. Often presented as a cost-prohibitive challenge, climate action actually gives companies an opportunity that business leaders can’t afford to miss.

Analyses carried out by Risilience found that the valuation of businesses failing to take climate action could be eroded by as much as 30% over the next five years, depending on company profile and how aggressively they tackle climate change. As climate-related legislation increasingly takes hold across the globe; from the proposed European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to the UK’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the temptation to view climate change as a problem for tomorrow’s enterprises has been eclipsed by the reality that it is a very real problem for businesses today.

 

A look ahead
Detailed analysis for where these pressures are likely to erode the value of the business shows where new opportunities can be found. The low-carbon economy is competitive and plays to the changeable nature of consumers, who can be highly discriminating and prone to switching brands according to how sustainable they believe the company to be –an opportunity for early movers to gain market share. We can take the lesson from the nineties when early changemakers saw the Internet economy coming.

Today we have the green economy, which is gaining momentum, so the choice is whether to grasp the opportunities that it creates or wait until it erodes your business model and, ultimately, the bottom line. Key actions involve upgrading manufacturing technology in processing plants to reduce emissions; substituting raw materials and suppliers for lower-emission alternatives; changing transportation and distribution fleets to electric vehicles and shortening the distribution footprint.

Finally, companies are finding that motivation and changing attitudes in their management and wider workforce are key to bringing about internal change from within an organisation. Internal incentivisation, shadowcarbon pricing and mandating changing practices, such as updating corporate travel policies, are all ways to instil a culture that seeks to prioritise climate action at both the strategic and operational levels of the business. To develop a comprehensive strategy, each of these initiatives needs to be evaluated for the volume of emissions that are saved relative to the costs and effort required, in terms of capital investment budget and operational change; and the resulting benefits and opportunities that the initiative provides for reducing risk.

A net-zero planning framework is essential and starts from a detailed understanding of the business and where its emissions come from, combined with detailed analyses of the costs and benefits each proposed initiative, respectively, requires and delivers, as part of an integrated strategy.

 

Data for a fresh perspective
A successful net-zero strategy is founded on three elements; climate-change science, business transformation and technology. When combined, and driven by data, all three provide sufficient visibility and operational efficiency such that the business can progress and thoroughly prepare for all risks that lie ahead. This same data will also be needed to seek and acquire buy-in from the top to ensure the value of acting, and fiscal damage for failing to, are highlighted to decisionmakers and budget holders in the business.

In addition, as we know, actionable insights are essential for driving momentum and evolving strategies. Organisations should seek risk analytics to shape their net-zero journey and truly understand the internal and external pressures that come from their customers, competitors, board and legislators –challenges that don’t lie in the future but sit very much in the here and now.

 

 

Source Sustainability 

Jaguar Land Rover: Tackling sustainability in supply chain

Posted on by dishanth
Jaguar Land Rover: Tackling sustainability in supply chain

Jaguar Land Rover has invited its suppliers to align to its sustainability commitments, of reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its operations
Achieving net zero across the entire value chain is becoming more important to global organisations as they are all trying to help in the fight against climate change.

Jaguar Land Rover has explained how its commitments can only be achieved by working closely with suppliers who share the same vision for change. Therefore the company has invited its global Tier 1 supplier network – products, services and logistics – to align with its 2030 goals, while maintaining the same quality.

“Fulfilling our SBTi commitments and achieving carbon net zero emissions across our entire supply chain by 2039 are the driving forces in Jaguar Land Rover’s industrial strategy. We can only meet these ambitious targets together, which is why we’re inviting suppliers to join us on this challenging but exciting journey, strengthening existing relationships to enable all parties to achieve significant, quantifiable goals,” said Barbara Bergmeier, Executive Director of Industrial Operations, Jaguar Land Rover.

 

 

Reducing the global impact of the automotive industry

Earlier this year, Jaguar Land Rover committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its operations by 46% by 2030. In addition, the company will cut average vehicle emissions across its value chains by 54%, including a 60% reduction throughout the use phase of its vehicles.

The goals, which are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), confirm the company’s pathway to a 1.5°C emissions reduction in line with the Paris Agreement.

As explained in the new announcement, the company will ask Tier 1 suppliers to set their decarbonisation pathway, report transparently and demonstrate progress towards their targets. This would involve disclosing their carbon reporting and collaborating with their own supply chain to deliver the same reductions. This requirement has been shared with Jaguar Land Rover’s supply network, totalling more than 5,000 companies around the globe.

Wilhelm Steger, CEO of the ZKW Group, which supplies premium lighting systems to Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Our vision is pioneering, premium lighting and electronic systems for all mobility concepts in the global automotive industry. Together with Jaguar Land Rover, ZKW is taking the journey towards a more sustainable future. We are committed to protecting the environment and reducing environmental impact. As a consequence, we are taking responsibility, we are developing towards the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) within our business and converting our production sites to CO2-neutral by the end of 2025.”

 

 

Source Sustainability

 

Converting captured carbon into rock really is that easy

Posted on by dishanth
Converting captured carbon into rock really is that easy

Capturing carbon from the atmosphere is quickly becoming a popular venture. The sector skyrocketed in 2022 as the top emerging segment of climate tech funding, and the Inflation Reduction Act passed earlier this year increased the financial compensation for every ton of carbon captured in the U.S. But Icelandic company Carbfix has been capturing and storing carbon in rocks for over a decade.

Edda Sif Pind Aradóttir, Carbfix’s CEO, has been with Carbfix since its inception in 2007. Beginning as a PhD student working on the R&D of the relationship between CO2, hydrology and geology beneath the earth, Aradóttir worked her way up after earning her doctorate, first to project manager, and then eventually to CEO of the innovative company paving the way for a new frontier of carbon capturing.

Carbfix specifically dissolves CO2 into sparkling water and injects the mixture into a carefully chosen subsurface, or the layer beneath the earth’s surface. Once among the subterranean rock (most commonly basalt) a naturally occurring phenomenon takes over and solidifies the combination into solid carbonate minerals. While other types of rock can also host this process, basalt is one of the most common rock types on Earth, according to Aradóttir, making the adoption of the technology more feasible across the globe.

Currently, Aradóttir told GreenBiz, “point sourcing, or capture and storage at the same location, is always going to be the most cost effective. But when that’s not possible, [Carbfix] can add the transport link, whether that means pipes, trains, trucks or ships.”

But once it arrives at Carbfix’s facilities, it requires storage until it can be sequestered into the rock. Aradóttir explains that temporary CO2 storage infrastructure is the next project the company is undertaking.

The European Union recently pledged significant financial support to Carbfix to “build the first of a kind of such [a storage facility] in Iceland.” Carbfix expects to break ground in the upcoming months.

 

Image courtesy of Green by Iceland, photographer Gunnar Freyr Gunnarsson

 

Speaking to GreenBiz at the recent US-Iceland Energy Summit hosted in Washington, D.C., Aradóttir shared an upcoming local project. According to the CEO, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding Carbfix’s research in Minnesota, with the ultimate purpose of the R&D to determine whether local rock formations could one day host injected CO2.

In addition to the Minnesota project, Carbfix is simultaneously scoping the U.S. geology for other sites amenable for future CO2 injection and storage. While all U.S.-based projects are in the infancy of the R&D phase, Aradóttir confirmed that substantial local job creation is to be expected. For example, she estimates 600 new jobs at the upcoming storage facility about to break ground in Iceland. For the U.S., a country whose transition to 100 percent renewable energy depends upon steady job creation to compensate for the fossil fuel-based jobs lost, this is only good news.

Aradóttir passionately advocated for an expedited adoption of climate change mitigating measures.

“We have the technologies and we know what to do, but we’re still not really doing it at the pace needed,” she said. “I don’t think this gets the attention it should get.” Aradóttir acknowledged that “doom and gloom” is not an effective communication strategy to spur action. Optimism is needed to encourage hope and drive motivation. But still she knows it’s hard when, “year after year after year, we don’t deliver, but it’s something we absolutely can do.”

Carbfix is taking that mantra to heart. Currently, the company has injected 83,957 metric tons of CO2, or the equivalent of 208 million miles driven by an average combustion vehicle, into the earth since 2014, and it’s taking that technology on an international tour. Currently, Carbfix has 14 ongoing projects within Iceland and around the world, including Germany, Turkey and Italy. And its website features an atlas of all of the potential geological sites where subsurface CO2 injection and storage should be compatible. Time will tell if Carbfix can get buy-in to take advantage of these sites.

 

 

Source GreenBiz

Vattenfall and electric bike firm Cake team on ‘fossil-free’ motorcycle

Posted on by dishanth
Vattenfall and electric bike firm Cake team on ‘fossil-free’ motorcycle

European energy giant Vattenfall and Swedish electric bike manufacturer Cake have teamed up to build an entirely “fossil-free” electric motorcycle using an innovative production process that will deliver “the cleanest dirt bike ever.”

The companies said they plan to use the project to highlight the climate impact of producing one of Cake’s Kalk OR electric off-roaders by presenting it in an 8.6 meter cube — creating a space equivalent to the CO2 emissions the bike will save.

According to the companies, the 8.6-meter cube reflects the volume of carbon emissions emitted during the production process, which comes to 637 cubic meters, equal to 1,186 kilograms of carbon dioxide, or the same amount of emissions produced from someone taking a flight from London to New York and back twice.

 

Vattenfall and Cake are teaming up to decarbonize the production process for Cake’s Kalk OR dirt bike. Image courtesy of Cake

 

In order to make the bike “fossil-free,” the companies said that they are exploring the use of alternative materials such as green aluminum, steel, plastic and rubber, as well as looking at how they can reduce the carbon emissions of the bike’s motor, battery, brakes, suspension and electronics.

Stefan Ytterborn, chief executive and founder at Cake, described “fossil-free” as a production process that has been fully decarbonized, regardless of the fuel that the bike will be running on.

“It’s unlikely that many companies are aware of the carbon footprint of their own products,” he said. “To understand and tackle our own impact, we have measured the emissions from our entire production chain for one Cake Kalk OR and started to decarbonize every step to a minimum by 2025. By doing so, our second most important contribution to the planet is to inspire other manufacturers to step up and do the same.”

Annika Ramsköld, head of corporate sustainability at Vattenfall, added that the partnership was in support of Vattenfall’s vision to enable fossil-free living within one generation, as well as showcasing its dedication to new partnerships that “inspire and break barriers.”

“This is one such project where our main contribution is the broad knowledge in fossil free solutions and electrification of industries we have acquired over decades from our own as well as other industries,” she said.

The partners said that they have been collaborating on the project since 2021 with a view to producing the first “fossil free” off-roader by 2025. They added that they have also been working with a consortium comprising Cake’s existing suppliers, as well as a number of innovative makers of alternative components and materials, which the companies said they hoped would offer the possibility of further emissions reductions.

 

 

Source GreenBiz

Reduce food waste with processing and packaging solutions

Posted on by dishanth
Reduce food waste with processing and packaging solutions

It’s not hard to make the case for why tackling food loss and food waste is important to sustainability. About one-third of food produced globally never gets consumed. And food waste accounts for about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The food and beverage industry has a role to play by reducing food waste in companies’ operations, and by giving consumers products that are less likely to lead to waste. There is good reason (beyond sustainability) for the industry to pay attention — whether you’re a retailer, a manufacturer or a food brand — because consumers care about this issue. According to the Tetra Pak Index 2020, 77 percent of consumers say food waste is a concern, putting it on par with climate change.

Before we get to the role of industry, it’s important to understand the difference between food loss and food waste. Food loss is caused by inefficient growing, processing or preservation — in other words, food that fails to make its way to retail. A number of considerations in food manufacturing can reduce food loss. Increasing efficiencies can reduce product loss before food even leaves the factory, in addition to a number of other sustainability benefits.

Food waste occurs at the stages of distribution, retail and consumption by consumers. Because it’s driven by the short shelf life of food, we can ensure food is packaged to optimize shelf life. A variety of factors can protect and extend the life of the product.

Let’s take a closer look at these solutions.

 

Implementing a methodology like Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) will help improve the overall productivity of a plant, including mapping the sources of food loss and waste. Image courtesy of Tetra Pak.

 

Understanding where food loss happens in manufacturing

Once raw ingredients arrive at a plant for processing, there are many reasons those ingredients don’t make it out of the factory. The first step in tackling food loss at the factory is understanding where it is happening.

Modern automation systems, such as Tetra Pak PlantMaster, enable food and beverage manufacturers to track all product movements within their facilities. This data allows them to build a baseline to understand where and why food loss is happening, and where investments can be made for improvements.

Another way to understand and reduce food loss at the plant is by implementing a methodology such as Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). TPM is a holistic approach to working and equipment maintenance that aims to reduce stops and breakdowns. This method will not only help improve the overall productivity of a plant, but also help in mapping all the sources of waste and loss. For example, plant operators may find they are having a lot of starts and stops in the packaging process, which leads to liquid food loss. By implementing TPM, one food and beverage manufacturer was able to reduce its food loss by 3.6 million pounds.

Another pain point in processing with a significant amount of liquid food loss is the mix phase when the processing system switches from water to product and vice versa. This mix phase transition occurs between every batch, typically with numerous batches per day, per processing system. Recently at one of my customers’ sites, we implemented a solution that lessens the duration of the mix phase without compromising on product quality. This resulted in a 20.5-gallon reduction in product loss per transition, saving the company more than 24,500 gallons of product per system, per year. These savings can add up quickly.

Quality loss is another area to look at, and which would a focused improvement project under the TPM methodology would address. When manufacturers conduct internal quality sampling, they are de facto creating food loss. And some manufacturers are sampling up to 2 percent of their finished product. Once a sampling plan can be standardized, the sampling rate is reduced from 1 percent to 1.2 percent without compromising on quality or food safety.

 

Minimize food waste with packaging

Once food has escaped being lost during the production process, ample other opportunities can prevent it from becoming food waste. While food and beverage manufacturers don’t have much control over what logistics operators, retailers or consumers do, they can determine the packaging. The right packaging can extend shelf life and increase the odds of being consumed.

At the most basic level, good packaging must keep food safe to eat and free from bacteria or other contamination. A package is a physical barrier that keeps oxygen, water vapor and other particles out. Some packages protect from light, and others are used with processing techniques that extend shelf life.

A package should also protect the quality, integrity and taste of the product to ensure consumers don’t throw it out. Especially if your products contain functional, value-added ingredients, such as omega-3 fatty acids or vitamins, you need a package that will not compromise their effectiveness, bringing benefits to the consumer.

One final packaging consideration: Does it need to be chilled throughout the supply chain? Packages that require refrigeration are susceptible to spoiling if something goes awry during chilled transportation and storage to retail, or if consumers fail to get them into their fridge at home. However, a package that is shelf-stable will be perfectly fine unopened even if the power goes out. As an added bonus, a package that doesn’t require chilled transportation will cut down on transportation-related energy needs, while still maintaining the quality of the product and preventing food waste.

Having sound, thoughtful approaches to food processing and packaging is the entry point on the road to preventing food loss and waste. By optimizing processing, you’re ensuring more food makes it out the door and on its way to consumers. And by making smart packaging choices, you can ensure that products have a higher success rate of making it through the supply chain and being enjoyed by consumers.

 

 

Source  GreenBiz