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Can we really fuel planes with fat and sugar?

Posted on January 9, 2024 by dishanth

As the politician next to him took out his phone for a selfie, Virgin Atlantic chairman Richard Branson peered into the camera, grinned, and did a double thumbs-up. The world’s first commercial airliner to cross the Atlantic using 100% biofuel had just landed in New York.

Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787 was powered not by fossil fuels, but plant sugars and waste fats – a form of so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF. A British Conservative MP posted his smiling selfie with Branson to the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, and declared the flight “a significant UK aviation achievement”. (The flight was partly funded by the UK government.)

But not everyone is so sure that this represents the future of flying. The biomass required to make biofuel can come from a broad range of sources – plant material, food waste or even algae. While biofuels release CO2 when burned, some consider them a sustainable option because they are renewable and biomass removes some CO2 from the atmosphere as it grows.

The problem is the sheer volume of biomass needed to power an industry as fuel-hungry as aviation. One academic paper published in August estimated that, if you were to grow sugar cane and use that to make biofuels for commercial jets, you’d need 125 million hectares (482,000 sq miles) of land – roughly equivalent to the surface area of the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Louisiana combined.

That’s a lot of land. And if you tried using waste sources of biomass alone, you wouldn’t have nearly enough to keep all the world’s planes in the air, say some experts. The airline industry is currently responsible for about 3.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, roughly the same as the entire country of Japan, which is one of the world’s highest emitters.

Proponents of SAF argue that the fuel could make flying much greener than it is currently. It’s just that scaling SAF production up is a gigantic challenge.

“What they’re doing is quite important, they’re just demonstrating that the flight is perfectly safe, there are no problems with the fuel,” says David Lee, a professor of atmospheric science at Manchester Metropolitan University, who studies the impact of aviation on the climate, and who was a co-author of the paper that investigated the feasibility of transitioning to SAF. By switching to SAF over fossil fuels, you can achieve carbon savings of around 70%, says Lee, though this depends on the specific source of biomass you choose.

Lee notes that international regulations don’t actually allow for flights using more than 50% SAF as fuel at the moment, so Virgin Atlantic’s hop across the pond required a special permit from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority.

It all adds up to a successful proof-of-concept. But it would be difficult to power more than one glitzy flight with 100% SAF today. “You just can’t get hold of the damn stuff,” says Lee. “If we want to do engine tests, we have difficulty purchasing the fuel.”

It’s an issue that Virgin Atlantic itself acknowledges. SAF accounts for just 0.1% of all aviation fuels consumed. The International Air Transport Association predicts that the airline industry will require 450 billion litres of SAF by 2050 – only 300 million litres were produced in 2022. However, to date, SAF has helped to fuel hundreds of thousands of flights – at least as part of a blend with fossil fuels. In the US, SAF production is estimated to reach 2.1 billion gallons (7.9 billion litres) annually by 2030 – well below President Biden’s target of producing 3 billion gallons (11.3 billion litres) of the fuel annually by that year.

Ramping up SAF production is difficult. In a Royal Society report published earlier this year, Lee and colleagues analysed the UK’s potential to produce its own SAF for commercial flights. “We concluded that there wasn’t really enough land,” he says. Around the world, competition for land is fierce. We will need an additional 70-80 million hectares of cropland by 2030 globally, estimates management consultants McKinsey & Company – that’s an area bigger than the state of Texas. The vast majority of this new cropland (70% ) is needed to grow crops for feeding livestock. Only 10% of the total area required would go towards biofuel production in McKinsey’s scenario.

Some SAF comes from waste fats, for example, from food production processes. Relying on such sources could, in theory, lessen the need for expanding crop cultivation just to make biofuels. But there’s far too little waste available, says Hannah Daly at University College Cork, in Ireland. Even if you gathered up all the biomass waste available in the Republic of Ireland, she says, it would only allow you to replace about 4% of fossil fuels consumed by the country. The calculation would be similar in other countries, she suggests.

“There’s substantial risk that that ‘waste cooking oil’ could be fraudulently relabelled virgin palm oil,” says Daly. “That could be contributing to deforestation.”

Some alternatives to SAF, including hydrogen fuel and electrification, are not currently viable options for large commercial flights.

Chelsea Baldino, senior researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation and her colleagues have calculated that SAF made from waste sources in the UK would only be able to meet a maximum of 15% of UK jet fuel demand in 2030. The ICCT also estimates that just 3.3-4.2 billion gallons of SAF could feasibly be produced domestically in the US by 2030, while in 2019, US airlines used 23 billion gallons of jet fuel.

“Biofuels providing the significant greenhouse gas savings needed to decarbonise jet fuel will not be available at scale,” she says. E-fuels – synthetic versions of fossil fuels made using renewable energy – will be “essential”, according to Baldino. E-fuels require a lot of energy to produce but they have the advantage of not introducing additional carbon into the atmosphere, as would be the case with newly extracted fossil fuels.

Josh Moos, an economist at Leeds Beckett University in the UK, lambasts Virgin Atlantic’s 100% SAF flight as “greenwashing”.

“The science would suggest that there really is no such thing as sustainable aviation,” he says. It would be better to reduce demand for flights globally, perhaps by placing a levy on frequent flyers or by increasing taxes on the airline industry, he argues. Moos acknowledges that such measures are “politically and socially unpalatable”, though both he and Daly suggest they might be necessary if we are to meet net zero goals.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic says, “We are committed to achieving Net Zero 2050 and have set interim targets on our pathway to get there, including 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel by 2030.”

She notes that the 100% SAF flight from London to New York relied entirely on waste biomass and that the demonstration was “an important step, but not the end goal” in the firm’s efforts to scale up its use of SAF in the coming years.

Some sceptics remain unconvinced. Daly, for one, points out that even if SAF does replace an increasing proportion of fossil fuels for aviation purposes, the overall benefit could be wiped out by the rapidly growing airline industry. Eurocontrol, a European air safety organisation, predicts that the annual total number of flights worldwide will reach 16 million by 2050 – an increase of 44% on 2019’s figure.

“I would love guilt-free flying myself – but it’s just not possible,” says Daly.

Source BBC

Technology Helps City Air Purifiers Run at Scale

Posted on December 12, 2023 by dishanth

As urban air pollution increases globally, cities of all sizes are getting creative with technologies to literally filter out the smog. In 2017, China unveiled what it dubbed the “world’s biggest city air purifier” – a nearly 100-meter tall tower in northern China designed to reduce air pollution. While its effectiveness has limits, the towering structure demonstrates the growing interest in large-scale air filtration. Beyond this eye-catching prototype, cities worldwide are testing various innovative technologies to clean their skies.

In Xian in Shaanxi province, residents breathing some of China’s most polluted air are getting a reprieve thanks to their new neighbor – a 60-meter tall city air purifier tower. The structure’s interior has multiple filtration layers to catch particulates as air passes. An interior glass enclosure helps contain airflow so polluted air can fully pass through the system.

Since becoming operational in 2017, the city air purifier tower has noticeably cut harmful PM2.5 particles in the surrounding 2.6 square mile area. Cities like Xian regularly suffer from winter smog, blanketing entire regions. While not eliminating pollution, the tower provides cleaner air in its immediate vicinity.

The concept behind the city air purifier is similar to industrial scrubbers cleaning factory exhaust. Scaling up the technology, its designers hope such towers could eventually clean the air across entire cities. Of course, a limitation is that people must be close to the towers to benefit. And the structures are costly to build and operate. Still, China’s prototype tower has spurred interest in exploring larger-scale air filtration to supplement other anti-pollution measures.

While China goes big, other pollution fighters use buildings as filters. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtering systems installed in central air ventilation systems are increasingly common. HEPA filters use densely packed fibers to catch over 99% of particulates, pollen, and other pollutants. Similar city air purifiers at the street level are also possible. Smog halting benches designed in Paris contain a HEPA filter, sucking in air as pedestrians sit.

Living walls of plants built onto building exteriors also naturally filter gases. One study found adding 172 square feet of plants per person in London could remove all PM10 particulates. Mosses are especially effective pollutant absorbers.

Specialized building materials also react with and neutralize air pollutants when exposed to light. Concrete can be coated with titanium dioxide, which oxidizes nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds into safer compounds. Hydrophilic coatings help droplets absorb particulates.

Researchers are working on incorporating similar photocatalysts into road asphalt. These chemically treated roads could reduce tons of air pollutants daily if widely adopted.

Green algae may also hold the potential for clean city air through bioreactors. Experimental units in Hamburg use circulated airflow to filter exhaust fumes through an algae facade. The algae neutralize airborne pollutants while multiplying and producing biomass that can be harvested for biofuels.

What works in lab prototype city air purifiers, however, often proves challenging to execute citywide. Costs, aesthetics, and maintenance frequently impede adoption. Visible additions like green roofs require public acceptance. Passive approaches like photocatalytic paints, while hidden, need reapplication over time.

Scaling across metro areas also poses hurdles. Shanghai officials planned a network of small purifier towers across the city, but only a few ever materialized. Even proven concepts like roof gardens struggle to spread, as few developers want to trade rentable space for plants.

While technical solutions can filter pollution already in the air, reducing emissions at the source remains vital. You can’t plant your way out of bad air.

Despite obstacles, experts forecast continued innovation and cost reductions, improving feasibility. Market growth also brings economies of scale. Global green walls are forecast to be a $7.5 billion industry by 2030. Modular green facades and roofs can now be delivered as easy-install kits.

Policy measures like subsidies, tax incentives, and mandates will likely be needed, however, to spur mass adoption. Many cities now require mechanically ventilated buildings to install city air purifiers through filtration. While these are intended to protect building occupants from pathogens such as coronavirus, they also have the net effect of reducing particulate and other toxins from the air. Building codes could similarly require passive air-cleaning coatings and surfaces.

Though major pollution sources like autos require parallel efforts, creative technologies can help cities breathe easier. China’s massive air purifier may be just the start of a cleaner air movement. The scale of the air pollution crisis demands big, visible solutions to jolt public awareness.

While towering city air purifiers or algae bioreactors may capture headlines, addressing urban air pollution requires a multi-faceted approach. Technical fixes can target existing pollution, but cities must also prevent pollution at the source by transitioning to cleaner energy, transport, and waste systems.

Public awareness and policy measures are equally vital to drive large-scale adoption of innovative city air purifier concepts. Financial incentives, tax breaks, and inclusion in building codes could help technologies like photocatalytic coatings and surfaces become mainstream. Grassroots activism also plays a crucial role in keeping air quality high on urban agendas.

Though critical, bold engineering feats like China’s massive city air purifier tower should be viewed as supplementary elements of long-term solutions rather than silver bullet fixes. As much as cities need breathable air, those relying on singular grand gestures risk short-changing public health. Lasting solutions require a patient, systematic transition toward deeper sustainability.

Still, visionary projects like China’s offer hope by viscerally demonstrating the scale of what’s possible. Initial results and statements suggested the tower can produce over 10 million cubic meters of clean air daily. If we were to use this figure as a rough estimate, it would translate to about 3.65 trillion cubic meters of clean air annually, having a positive effect on the health of those living near it.

When paired with holistic strategies to address transport, energy, and waste systems, creative pollution mitigation technologies can steadily help clear the air. Cities have a responsibility to use every tool and innovation at their disposal to ensure citizens can simply breathe clean air.

Source Happy Eco News

Green dreams: Algae biorefineries could help in the race to net zero

Posted on October 26, 2023October 31, 2023 by dishanth

The world is looking for new solutions to address the challenges we’re facing in the race to net zero. Things we rely on each day, like transport, agriculture and plastics are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

Enter algae. This diverse bunch of tiny organisms are emerging as a solution to a number of our fossil fuel problems.

Algae are aquatic photosynthetic organisms, which means they use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to grow. Examples include seaweeds, microalgae, plankton and phytoplankton. There are thousands of distinct types of algae. And each type has specific uses and benefits that we are only just starting to discover.

From pond to pump: Know your algae

Algae fall into two main groups:

Microalgae: these are single-celled photosynthetic micro-organisms, which can live in salt or freshwater.
Macroalgae: these are multicellular aquatic plants that also photosynthesize. There are three types: green, red and brown. Each has different proteins, carbohydrates and fats which lend themselves to various uses.

Getting to net zero means we need to change our industrial processes. We need to increase efficiency of our traditional agricultural systems. And we also need to expand our ability to produce products like food, fuel and chemicals from new sources that are not reliant on fossil fuels. This is where algae come in.

Realizing the potential of algae biorefineries

Algae are promising because they don’t compete for land, freshwater or other precious resources, and produce high yields. They can also help purify the waters in which they grow by removing excess nutrients that lead to poor water quality.

Dr. Anusuya Willis is the Director of our Australian National Algae Culture Collection. She says much of the potential of algae is yet to be realized.

“The future of algae needs to be tempered because of a lack of fundamental research. None of the solutions will happen quickly but we need to make progress,” she says.

Warren Flentje is the Industrial Decarbonization Lead for our Towards Net Zero Mission. Warren believes algae biorefineries could be the solution to several of our challenges. These facilities are similar to traditional biorefineries that process biomass, but algal biorefineries specifically use algae as the raw material. However, this technology is in the early stages of research, and requires more investment before it’s ready to be rolled out.

“Algal biorefineries provide ingredients to make fuel, as well as other products like oils and plastics, and even new proteins for our diets or base products for health or cosmetic end uses,” Warren says.

“We need to do more with less—in our existing systems. And at the same time, we need to be working on the systems of the future.”

A sustainable source of bioenergy and biofuels

Biofuels can be a renewable and sustainable fuel for transport. Made from biomass, it can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels. Biomass is material from living things like agricultural crops and waste, animal fats and vegetable oils.

However, growing crops specifically to make biofuel takes up valuable agricultural land, which is already under increasing pressure from our food systems. So, we need new ways of producing the biomass feedstock that go into biofuels. Which is why we are looking at algal biomass and other future feedstocks.

Demand for biofuels is increasing. It’s being driven by increased oil prices and climate change policies. People are already starting to reduce emissions with biofuels by using E10 (regular unleaded petrol with 10% plant derived ethanol) or by using sustainable aviation fuel.

Algae as a livestock feed additive

FutureFeed is a supplement for livestock made from a type of native seaweed (Asparagopsis). It can reduce methane emissions by more than 80% in cattle, sheep and goats. This is important because each molecule of methane has 28 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide (on a 100-year scale). This makes methane a potent greenhouse gas for our warming atmosphere.

Asparagopsis seaweed contains bioactives, which are compounds that have a biological effect and can interact with the microbes in a cow’s stomach. They disrupt the normal processes that would lead to the formation of methane gas.

Dr. Michael Battaglia is a Director at FutureFeed and leads our Towards Net Zero Mission.

“FutureFeed, a great Australian innovation, looks promising. But for these solutions to create impact, we need to focus on scaling seaweed cultivation, aggregation and processing,” Michael says.

FutureFeed has been driving commercialization of Asparagopsis, with licensees growing the product. We’re continuing to research and develop the product to drive adoption. However, we need to attract more investment in sustainable seaweed farming and speed up the regulatory process.

Seaweed can help tackle climate change and biodiversity loss

Seaweed ecosystems could also become strong nature-based solutions to tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and help protect our coastlines. Kelp is a kind of macroalgae, which creates large underwater forests. Kelp forests cover an area more extensive than coral reefs or rainforests.

Through photosynthesis, kelp use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to grow. This converts carbon dioxide to organic biomass for short-term storage. If kelp is not grazed, consumed or decomposed, it can be buried in seafloor sediments or transported to the deep ocean. There it acts as long-term carbon removal to help mitigate emissions.

“A lot more work needs to be done in this area to accurately measure the long-term storage of carbon captured via kelp forests,” Anusuya says.

Maintaining healthy seaweed and kelp ecosystems is part of the puzzle in protecting our oceans.

“If we want to use kelp in the ecosystem restoration economy, we need to incentivize kelp protection and restoration through carbon value,” says Anusuya. “But the value of kelp in the carbon cycle is complex and ways to monitor sequestration aren’t yet fully understood.”

Challenges of scaling up algal-based solutions

Each type of algae comes with unique challenges. As demand for algae grows, we need to make sure we work to manage cultivation and farming to ensure sustainability.

Microalgae can be grown on land in controlled bioreactors. But for it to be useful, we need to invest in new ways of harvesting algae on a large scale. It is all about understanding how to grow algae in the most efficient way. On the other hand, we can’t control the environments of macroalgae as much, because they grow and are farmed along our coastlines. To unlock the ability of kelp to retain carbon, while restoring balance and boosting biodiversity, we need to follow an ecosystem-based approach to sustainably manage kelp forests and protect the ecosystem.

For all these algae-based solutions, scaling up has challenges. But algae have a role to play in working towards net zero. They can increase efficiency in our traditional agricultural systems, while expanding our ability to produce products like food, fuel and chemicals from new sources. It’s why we are working with research and investment to scale and de-risk some of these solutions to increase adoption.

Creating Biochar to Sequester Carbon and Fertilize Plants

Posted on July 14, 2023 by dishanth

The slash-and-burn agriculture technique grows food whereby forested land is clear-cut, and any vegetation is burned. The resulting layer of ash from the burnt vegetation provides a newly cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer that helps fertilize crops. Traditionally, the area was left fallow and reverted to a secondary forest of bush. Cultivation would then shift to a new plot.

Unfortunately, as we’ve shifted towards a fast-past world, these techniques are deemed harmful to the environment as modern slash-and-burn techniques are a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions, especially when used to initiate permanent deforestation. Moreover, many of these plots do not get replanted.

On a smaller scale, farmers are turning to create biochar to sequester carbon emissions and aid in growing their crops. Biochar is similar to slash-and-burn techniques, except it is created artificially through a process called pyrolysis. It is made when biomass, such as fallen tree branches and crop residue, is heated at 200-400°C with little or no oxygen.

Various types of biomass have been used on a commercial scale to produce biochar. This includes agricultural and forestry by-products (such as straw or tree bark), industrial by-products (such as paper sludge and pulp), animal wastes (such as chicken litter) and sewage sludge. Converting biomass to biochar offers an excellent method for reducing waste and using these by-products.

This process decomposes the organic waste into a solid residue of carbon. Farmers can apply it to the field where around 50 percent of the carbon is stored in stable forms as a soil additive to improve drainage, aeration, plant health, crop yield, and water and nutrient retention. Biochar helps process things that settle on it, such as soil’s water and nutrients that the plants can access when needed. Biochar can also absorb heavy metals, reducing the plants’ risk of accessing them.

There are a number of ways that small farmers can use biochar to sequester carbon:

Incorporate it into their soil: Biochar to sequester carbon can be added as a soil amendment. This can be done by broadcasting it on the soil’s surface or by mixing it into the soil.
Use it as a fertilizer: Biochar can be used as a fertilizer by mixing it with compost or other organic materials. This can help to improve the nutrient content of the soil and increase crop yields.
Use it to produce energy: Biochar can be used to produce energy by burning it in a stove or furnace. This can provide farmers with a renewable source of energy.

This process reduces emissions from organic waste that is burned or left to decompose, producing greenhouse gases. Studies have shown that only about 10 to 20 percent of the residue carbon is recycled into the soil when crop residue is left to decompose on its own.

Biochar increases soil fertility more than simple plant matter and reduces nutrients from leaching from the crop root zone, meaning they would have to use less chemical fertilizers to grow their crops. Using biochar to sequester carbon will also benefit farmers who cannot afford to buy fertilizers or invest in organic cultivation techniques that take a long time to establish. It also helps establish independence among smaller farmers as they would not have to depend on chemical fertilizer companies.

Creating biochar to sequester carbon is a sustainable way to fertilize plants and actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. According to the IPCC, biochar is one of the safest, most durable ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere. It helps create nutrient levels in the soil that are more stable and resistant to environmental degradation. This allows farmers to save money and resources, reducing their environmental impact.

Source Happy Eco News

Shark in the water: This robot can collect 21,000 plastic bottles in a day

Posted on April 4, 2023 by dishanth

Inspired by a whale shark’s wide mouth – which scoops up whatever is in front of it – Richard’s company Ran Marine created the WasteShark.

“I liken it to a Roomba for water. It’s an autonomous machine that scoops up pollution out of water on the surface level.”

“That pollution could be plastic or any debris or biomass like algae,” Richard adds.

Why is there a robot shark at Canary Wharf?

The Aqua Libra WasteShark was deployed in London’s Canary Wharf this week as part of a project to clean up the area and make it a healthier, more biodiverse environment.

Canary Wharf is a thriving financial district located on London’s River Thames. 120,000 people visit every day to work or shop there.

The Canary Wharf Group, which developed and manages the area, have done a lot to reduce single-use plastics. But the high footfall means it’s easy for coffee cups and lunch wrappers to end up in the water.

Currently, only 14 per cent of English rivers meet good ecological status. The country’s waterways are plagued by pollution from agriculture, sewage, roads and single-use plastics.

In fact, it is estimated that 8 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans every year, much of it being swept from cities to the sea through rivers.

“The way we designed the WasteShark was that it was zero impact on the environment that it’s working in,” says Richard.

“You’ll see a lot of boats that go out and clean are normally diesel-powered or mechanically powered so there’s a bit of oil and pollution going back into the water while they’re cleaning,” he explains.

WasteShark is completely electric and is so quiet it doesn’t disturb wildlife, according to the Ran Marine CEO.

“Ducks and swans swim away from it. We’re not fast enough to catch fish. So it really is a low-impact solution to remove pollution out of the water.”

What can WasteShark do?

The WasteShark is battery-powered and travels up to 5km on one battery. That amounts to around 8-10 hours of cleaning time. A daily feed for the WasteShark is around 500kg of debris or the equivalent of guzzling roughly 21,000 plastic bottles.

Any rubbish collected in the robot’s belly is then brought back to shore, sorted and recycled or disposed of responsibly.

Whilst it’s filling up, the WasteShark also collects samples of the water.

“We’re collecting water quality data from all around the world and aggregating that [so we can see] what it looked like last week, last year. Is the water getting cleaner? Is it changing? Is there a potential algae bloom?” explains Richard.

“It’s kind of our dream to deploy these things around the world to clean up while we’re asleep, make a difference and hopefully make an impact on our environment.”

Source euronews.green

21 circular economy solutions: changing how we eat, live and travel for a more sustainable world

Posted on March 10, 2022 by dishanth

In 2019 the global economy consumed over 100 billion tonnes of materials.
The Circularity Gap Report highlights how moving to circular economy can reduce consumption levels and help mitigate climate change.
These 21 changes to how we make, keep and discard things can build more sustainable systems and a circular economy.

Never before has humankind made and consumed so much stuff. In 2019, for the first time, the global economy consumed over 100 billion tonnes of materials.

Already five of the nine planetary boundaries have been transgressed during humanity’s short presence on Earth, driven by a throwaway culture that too often exploits nature. Our economy has become inherently linear, and it may be difficult to reimagine how we make, use and discard things unless we shift toward a more regenerative and inherently natural system.

How can we build a circular economy?

The latest edition of the Circularity Gap Report explores the concept of a circular economy and investigates its role in climate mitigation and in cultivating more equitable societies around the world. Ultimately, the model will require a systems shift: radically rethinking how we use resources to fulfil our needs and wants. The report presents a range of circular solutions, based on four key principles of the circular economy: using fewer resources, using resources for longer, recycling resources and regenerating resources.

The report applies these strategies to “key societal needs and wants” – such as housing, nutrition and transport – to transform how resources are fed into the economy. If applied globally, this could result in a 28% reduction of resource use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 39% – keeping the world on track to reach its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. Here we outline 21 strategies that can be applied in daily life, to businesses and at local and national government level. Importantly, these are not only grounded in energy policies – they go far beyond and span economic policy, industry, business and individual consumer behaviour.

Feeding the world and the circular economy

Providing nutrition to the world is an extremely resource and emissions intensive task: accounting for 10 billion tonnes of GHG emissions and 21.3 billion tonnes of resources a year. It’s also extremely inefficient as more than 30% of all food produced is thought to be wasted. While a massive proportion of the global population are malnourished, many others are overweight. Nutrition for all can be delivered with a fraction of the resources currently pumped into the linear food systems. The current model is ripe for change to a circular economy.

Build a circular economy through food sufficiency and cutting excess consumption.

1. Enough really can be enough

It’s extremely impactful to first slash excessive consumption before increasing production to tackle food shortages and scarcity. The words “no” and “refuse” are important in the circular economy.

2. Put healthier, satiating foods first

Let’s make cutting excess consumption tangible through food sufficiency: bringing the per capita caloric and protein intakes of high-income, high-emitter countries (such as the US or many in the EU, see the Shift profile on the right) down to match healthy levels – 2,000 calories a day for a typical woman. This can be done by reducing the material and emissions footprint per calorie of foods by prioritising healthier and more satiating foods over foods with low nutritional value. Think here of sugary beverages and refined, heavily processed items that require resources and energy to be produced, but their “empty calorie” effect on our stomachs means they are a wildly inefficient diet choice.

3. Embrace a plant-based diet

Animal-based proteins are yet another inefficient way to reach our daily calorie quota: 25kg of grain and about 15,000 litres of water is needed to produce only 1kg of beef – inputs that could instead be used to nourish humans. In some parts of the world, where a variety of other high protein, nutritious options are available, ditching animal proteins can be one of the most impactful individual actions for the climate. Eating a primarily plant-based diet could slash global emissions by 1.32 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.

The role different countries play in reducing waste and building a systems approach for the circular economy.

4. Shop your fridge and cook creatively

Circular shifts will also deliver secondary benefits such as less packaging needed for food – a massive win in terms of reducing single-use plastic – reduced obesity and healthier overall communities. It could also help to reduce food waste, also a strategy in itself needed to make our food systems more circular. Try doing this at home by not only cutting excess consumption, but planning your meals ahead, looking up innovative recipes to make use of your broccoli stems or fruit peels, shopping your refrigerator before heading to the market and skipping impulse buys if possible. Food service can employ the use of AI apps, such as Winnow, which has been found to cut kitchen waste by 50% or more.

5. Check for certifications

Choosing food that is sustainably sourced – meaning it comes from ecosystems that are managed according to environmental standards that enable regeneration – is a strong circular choice. A range of sustainable and carbon-neutral certification schemes aim to provide this ethical stamp to consumers. Nowadays, even cheese can come with a PAS2060 certification, the international mark of carbon neutrality.

Eating a primarily plant-based diet could slash global emissions by 1.32 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents.

—@circleeconomy

6. Support local

Sometimes we need to look to the past to learn lessons for the future. Practising the habits of our grandparents by going local and regional when picking our ingredients can have substantial environmental plus points. This often reduces the need for hot-housing vegetables, which equates to a reduction in fuel inputs, plus fewer food miles and lower transportation impacts. Supporting or practising urban, organic and precision farming models can also eliminate harmful synthetic fertiliser use, a huge source of emissions on its own.

In the UK, interest in allotments soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as home-grown food caught on. Lastly, backed by carbon-neutral biomass certification, using food waste and losses as animal feed – instead of the usual soy-based feeds – is an age-old tradition that will support the growth of secondary markets, take a chunk out of livestock emissions and help to avoid deforestation. While it’s not legal in the EU, it’s a successful practice in Japan and South Korea, where about 40% of food waste is used as feed.

7. Cook clean

Finally, cooking with polluting fuels is a silent killer: nearly 4 million people die a year from illness related to the associated pollution. Food preparation resources can also be made more circular, and safe, by replacing polluting traditional biomass and black carbon producing stoves with clean cooking apparatuses, including advanced solar-electric stoves. Increasing access to clean and sustainable energy around the world will be key to making this circular act available to those who most need it.

Homes and buildings and the circular economy

Providing shelter for the world is the most intensive “need” in terms of resources and emissions. Buildings are often developed without regard for the ecosystems of which they are a part. And in our civilisation’s history, we have built a lot: the mass of human-made things, from pavements to apartments to phones, now outweighs all natural biomass, such as trees and animals. Using circular economy strategies to lessen the load of our housing needs on the environment, and building with (rather than over) nature is imperative. Fulfilling the global economy’s need for housing is currently responsible for nearly 40 billion tonnes of resources and 13.5 billion tonnes of GHG emissions a year.

Multi-purpose buildings reduce the overall floor space needed and optimise resource efficiency, and also deliver proportional savings on heating and cooling.

—@circleeconomy

8. Design flexible, multi-purpose homes

To make our need for housing circular, we must ultimately call for fewer, but better, new houses to be built and make using them for multiple purposes the norm, especially in higher-income countries where we have masses of stock already built up. To make the most of the buildings we already have, they should be used flexibly and be able to adapt as time and needs evolve. Imagine a hybrid building that is used as a flex-work office space, a community centre and an evening school. Such spaces can be payment-per-use, such as the cross-industry collaborative building Dutch Mountains in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Multi-purpose buildings reduce the overall floor space needed and optimise resource efficiency, and also deliver proportional savings on heating and cooling. These savings will be further boosted by cuts in energy consumption that can be practised by anyone: lower room temperatures, smart metering and improved thermal insulation.

9. Use existing homes for longer

To continue making the most of the buildings already gracing the Earth, we must prioritise extending the lifetime of existing stock. Up until the 1960s there were strong traditions of reusing and sorting building materials, but this began to change as the construction industry in Europe moved from lime mortar to cement mortar, building materials became cheaper, and there were fewer requirements regarding the service life of buildings. Supporting and urging government interventions that ban building with virgin materials and policies to cap new construction in line with available volumes of secondary materials for building can reduce the need to extract finite materials from the Earth. Ultimately, waste from demolished buildings can be processed into new building materials, such as concrete mix or building sand. These options massively boost resource efficiency in production and performance.

10. No building left behind – or empty

Core circular methods must be practised at all levels, from the consumer to the national government. These include renovation, refurbishment, retrofitting and modular design. Modular design allows us to easily adapt buildings over time to suit changing needs and carries the potential for deconstruction, relocation and reuse of elements (or even whole buildings). Underused and disused buildings should also be occupied – in a time of resource scarcity buildings should not be sitting empty. Only with these methods can we try to meet the global housing demand within our global stock limits.

11. Nature-based solutions and renewable technologies

Nature-based solutions (NBS) can also lower material and energy demand for housing. We can be inspired by low-energy approaches such as Passivhaus design (this minimises the requirements for mechanical space heating, cooling and ventilation), while also applying renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaic or thermal, air-source and geothermal heat pumps to shrink the carbon footprint of a property. The Mahali Hub in South Africa are modular homes built with upcycled and locally available materials and a range of sustainable additions such as rainwater harvesting and passive cooling, resulting in net-zero homes.

We need to see the widespread use of low-carbon construction materials, material lightweighting and local sourcing to help to cut embodied energy in the housing system. And to add some regenerative power, the use of natural or renewable building materials, such as wood, straw and hemp, can boost biodiversity and regenerate ecosystems, while also generally slashing material footprints due to their lightweight character. Green roofs and living walls are all examples of NBS interventions with regenerative benefits, at least in terms of thermal performance, water management, biodiversity and air quality.

To dive into these 21 circular solutions that can bring us back on a 1.5 degree pathway, and understand the key role local and national governments and businesses play in driving the circular transition, download the Circularity Gap Report 2022.

Consuming and producing goods and the circular economy

Fulfilling the societal need for consumables – a diverse group of items ranging from refrigerators and furniture to clothing and cleaning agents – is not hugely resource-intensive compared to housing, for example, at 6.9 billion tonnes of resources and 5.6 billion tonnes of GHG a year. However, it’s incredibly wasteful, toxic and it is a huge drain on a different set of resources: cotton, synthetic, fossil fuel-based materials such as polyester and all the dye pigments and chemicals that go with it.

The production of low-cost, synthetic materials, which form the backbone of cheap, fast fashion, has increased nine-fold in the past 50 years, using around 350 million barrels of oil each year and shedding microplastics in the process. Meanwhile, the fashion industry is responsible for a fifth of waste water globally. That’s why we must move towards a circular economy.

Shifting consumption choices and mainstreaming circular design, both usage and acquisition rates can decline.

—@circleeconomy

12. Make careful consumer choices

As we know by now, we need to begin by using less. Aside from conscious choices and utilising the all-important r-word – refuse – we need to start with the efficient design and use of consumer products. By shifting consumption choices and mainstreaming circular design, both usage and acquisition rates can decline. Tangible actions include: increasing digitisation to reduce paper use; not making textiles from animals; aiming to eradicate single-use plastic; optimising the usage of electronics to minimise e-waste; choosing only eco-labelled responsibly-sourced timber furniture, and prioritising local purchasing and sourcing.

We must also learn to make the most of the stuff we have. Here, encouraging repair, maintenance, sharing, re-manufacturing and take-back programmes for textiles, appliances, furniture and machinery are powerful and should form the base of circular systems. Durable denim meets circular business models in the case of Kuyichi: the company’s resale business model offers a take-back scheme for customers to easily give their denim a new lease of life to their denim, as well as a resale service for preloved goods.

14. Support ‘right to repair’

The backwards practice of designing products to break relatively quickly, planned or built-in obsolescence, must be eliminated, or we should choose not to invest in the companies that fail to do so. A phone with an old battery should not have to be tossed out and replaced, but should instead be repaired, the battery replaced easily with available and value-for-money replacement parts. Design for disassembly, customisation and replacement parts are all practical and marketable options that should become mainstream. The EU has no dedicated policy in place to stop the absurd practice of planned obsolescence, yet, Biden in the US has taken a bold and necessary step in formally backing “right to repair” legislation that calls on companies to release the knowledge and tools required to repair many common devices.

15. Consider chemicals

To reduce the level of toxins and pollutants in the environment, we should prioritise the use of sustainable materials for chemical-free consumables. This is imperative in light of recent research that posits that the fifth planetary boundary to be surpassed is chemical pollution – spurred by plastics and chemicals from farmland fertilisers, for example, leaching into the environment. We use products and dispose of them, but they don’t just go away. To avoid further environmental degradation, businesses and consumers alike can prioritise bio-based alternatives, chemicals leasing and natural fertilisers, and organic compost in gardens.

16. Recycle and help build secondary markets

We can also look to recycle our consumables when refusing, repairing or refurbishing are not possible avenues. Closing loops and boosting value in secondary markets will allow a circular market for consumables to thrive. To get there, governments must promote the recycling of plastics, synthetic fibres, paper, wood and wood by-products; as well as specifying recycled content obligations, and substituting them where possible for virgin or raw material. On the plastics front, a range of legislation in this arena has been rolled out: by 2030, all plastic bottles in the EU must contain 30% recycled content, while this stands at 50% in California; and in Maharashtra in India, industrial packaging produced in the state must include 20% recycled content. All steps in the right direction, but this has got to move faster, while concurrently turning off the plastics tap by reducing unnecessary plastics production. If applied globally, this could cut 1.23 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and save 2.18 billion tonnes of materials, according to the Circularity Gap Report 2022.

Mobility, travel and the circular economy

Mobility systems in their current form are responsible for 8.7 billion tonnes of resources and 17.1 billion tonnes of GHG emissions a year – coming in second only to housing. With its mammoth footprint and contribution to air pollution worldwide, mobility is commonly associated with GHG emissions reduction in the minds of both policymakers and the public.

Current mobility habits leave much to be desired. Privately owned vehicles in Europe sit unused for 90% of the time, while the phenomenon of “ghost flights” recently shocked the world: airlines flying empty planes just to retain flight slots, all the while spewing GHG emissions. From driving to flying, opportunities for change are plentiful as we look towards a circular economy.

We can learn a lot from the behaviours practiced during the COVID-19 lockdowns – namely a cut in long-distance travel and telecommuting for work.

—@circleeconomy

17. Travel less often

When it comes to cutting the resource and emissions intensity of mobility, the simplest way is to reduce travel. We can learn a lot from the behaviours practiced during the COVID-19 lockdowns – namely a cut in long-distance travel and telecommuting for work. Post-pandemic, these environmentally friendly behaviours can continue to be encouraged through a range of interventions.

The provision of regional and local hubs – the so-called 15-minute city being piloted in both Paris, the US and China, for example – allows residents to reach amenities within 15 minutes, either by foot, bike or public transport. Shared and virtual offices, telecommuting and working from home when possible can continue to be promoted by employers, especially as many companies acknowledge that staff productivity was maintained.

18. Go for lightweight designs

Vehicle design improvements are another more incremental way to reduce the level of materials used in mobility. Lightweight and smaller vehicles, such as cars and scooters, result in less steel and aluminium used for production, as well as lower fuel consumption and embodied energy.

19. Keep your car for longer

When it comes to prioritising durable design and material selection, plus optimising repairability and maximising maintenance, we can also use materials for longer – extending the lifetime of vehicles.

As well as better designed vehicles, better utilisation of all vehicles will further reduce the intensity of this societal need. With personal vehicle ownership no longer the dream it once was, interventions include shared mobility, via car clubs and pools, ride-sharing, and public transport, with park-and-ride provision to cut fuel consumption.

21. Design for reuse

Finally, optimising end-of-life vehicle management is critical to cycle flows, with the recycling of metal and plastic components, and the use of recycled materials, on the rise.

To dive into these 21 circular solutions that can bring us back on a 1.5 degree pathway, and understand the key role local and national governments and businesses play in driving the circular transition, download the Circularity Gap Report 2022.

Source WeForum

Transforming a power station for our net zero future

Posted on September 28, 2020September 28, 2020 by dishanth

A timeline from coal to negative emissions at Drax – told by the engineers who were there

Biomass power generation would have seemed impossible to the engineers who began building Drax Power Station in 1967. Today, however, sustainably-sourced compressed wood pellets have enabled the Yorkshire power station – once the country’s largest single source of emissions – to rapidly decarbonise, with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions 85 per cent lower than in 2013.

But the unique nature of Drax presents a more powerful opportunity for its future: negative emissions.

Through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), Drax aims to not just be carbon neutral, but carbon negative by 2030 and, in the process, act as an anchor in the country’s largest industrial decarbonisation cluster. Securing a green economy in the UK, opening up new career paths and leading the country to net zero emissions by 2050.

This is the story of how the UK’s biggest coal power station transformed itself through ingenuity and innovation into a decarbonisation powerhouse.

“You have to take your hat off to the team involved in designing and building the biomass systems,” says Carl Clayton, head of BECCS at Drax. “When you look back at the journey Drax has gone on.”

Drax before biomass and the origin of the idea

When Drax Power Station officially opened in 1975, with three generators, each capable of powering a whole northern city, the UK’s energy system looked very different from today. Coal was king, but just the year before, the miners’ strike – combined with the oil crisis – had forced the Heath government to implement three-day working weeks in a desperate bid to reduce electricity consumption. Drax’s capability to power some three million homes represented a new era of plentiful energy across the country.

By the dawn of the 21st century the power station had doubled in size and capacity to become the biggest in the UK and house six generator units. The energy sector, however was beginning to change. It was becoming increasingly apparent the UK and the world needed to move away from coal and fossil fuels, yet continue to meet a growing demand for electricity.

Drax had already made strides towards reducing pollution from electricity generation and in the 1980s and 90s was the first coal-fired power station to install flue-gas desulphurisation technology, which removes 90 per cent of coal’s harmful sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions – the cause of acid rain. But moving away from coal entirely was a whole new question.

“We made a lot of people’s heads hurt with this project,” says Drax chief innovation officer Jason Shipstone. “No one had the answers. It was a bit like going for a walk, knowing where you need to end up, but not knowing the best way to get there.”

Chief innovation officer Jason Shipston beside a giant steam turbine, Drax Power Station
Credit: Drax

A new fuel for a low carbon power station

Experimentation into alternative fuels became a focus for the research and development team. Initially, they combined materials such as wood powder and sunflower husks with coal at low percentages to understand if they could be used without detrimental effects on the boilers.

Eventually, compressed wood biomass pellets sourced from sustainably managed working forests were settled on as the best possible, renewable fuel source. But biomass is a very different material than a lump of coal. It’s a more volatile substance, it must be kept dry while being transported and stored, as well as handled in a safe way to prevent it combusting.

This meant innovations were needed throughout the supply chain. Covered train wagons were specially designed to transport the fuel and the four giant biomass storage domes, capable of holding 300,000 tonnes of pellets between them, were constructed at Drax Power Station.

Two of the four biomass wood pellet storage domes at Drax Power Station, North Yorkshire
Credit: Drax

Even as experimentation and construction progressed the power station continued to operate. “Everything else had to carry on as normal. This had to be seamless. We had to work the same as Drax has always worked – reliable and available,” says Shipstone.

In 2009, Drax engineers overcame the final challenge to successfully run a 600-plus megawatt (MW) Drax generator from a co-fired boiler, kickstarting a decade of major transformation, innovation and, ultimately decarbonisation. The conversion of the a first generating unit to run entirely on biomass alone to produce low carbon, renewable electricity in 2013 represented a further landmark moment for Drax.

“When I joined Drax in 2013, there were still some colleagues who were less keen on the transition away from coal,” says Clayton. “Looking back on that now – it seems crazy to question it. If we hadn’t, the power station could have closed down like others in the area.”

Head of BECCS Carl Clayton inspecting BECCS pilot plant at Drax Power Station, North Yorkshire
Credit: Drax

In just five years, Drax converted three more generating units to run on biomass. With each conversion also came greater knowledge of working with biomass and what it was capable of. Building on this knowledge and previous experience of carbon capture research and development, 2018 saw Drax Power Station begin a new era. One that could have an even farther reaching impact on the UK’s decarbonisation.

From biomass to negative emissions

The skills, experience and understanding of biomass developed at Drax have made it a world leader in bioenergy – from sustainable forest management through to the power it can produce. However, by adding carbon capture to the equation Drax can pioneer BECCS technology and have an impact across the Humber industrial cluster – currently the UK’s highest emitting region – and beyond.

“Now we have a very novel opportunity to do something the world is saying it needs and to demonstrate how it can be done elsewhere,” says Clayton.

BECCS and negative emissions starts by using sustainably sourced biomass. The forests used to supply biomass absorb CO2from the atmosphere. When the biomass is used to generate electricity, the same CO2 re-enters the atmosphere. By adding carbon capture, that CO2 can be transported and stored, permanently and safely, in rock formations, deep underground. It means CO2 will be removed from the atmosphere permanently, whilst reliable, renewable electricity is generated.

The idea sounds ambitious, but carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) is already a proven technology, deployed at scale at fossil fuelled power stations around the world. And once again, it’s a field in which Drax has experience to build upon.

The White Rose Project was a plan to capture CO2at new coal-fired power station on Drax’s site near Selby and transport it to storage sites in the North Sea. It was stopped when the government cut short its CCS commercialisation programme in 2015.

The political climate around decarbonsiation has shifted since then, with the UK now legally bound to achieving net zero emission in 2050. White Rose offers a platform from which BECCS can launch, with research into pipework of different materials, transporting CO2 at different pressures and engineering for infrastructure installations, as well as research into geology already completed.

“There’s no reason it couldn’t be done. There’s nothing you can’t engineer,” says Clayton. “Transporting CO2 to the coast and taking it out to North Sea storage beds and sequestering it: all of the work pre-exists. Drax and the Humber have a good starting point in understanding the full chain of BECCS.”

Beyond transporting CO2 from Drax’s biomass generators to storage locations, the infrastructure put in place can also capture emissions from other facilities in the Humber industrial cluster. This shared infrastructure can create a zero carbon ecosystem that future-proofs industry in the region, creating new jobs and leading the UK into a green recovery.

Its reach is not limited to the UK though, “We’re trying to ensure that our learnings in both biomass and CCUS will be transferable and we can help the world’s economies create their own negative emissions, technologies and projects,” says Clayton. “We can make sure that sustainability is at the top of the agenda as the world generates energy and deploys its resources in the future.”

This is a contributed article from Drax, which is a partner of the world’s first Net Zero Festival taking place over three days from 30 September

By Drax

Source: Business Green