Green hydrogen is gaining traction as a tool for reliability and energy storage in a carbon-free energy world. But what makes hydrogen “green” – and how should we think about the role it plays in the energy transition? Climate Break spoke to Nick Connell of the Green Hydrogen Coalition about the fuel’s potential.
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California coastlines used to be full of oyster reefs, until human activity and development caused populations to drop precipitously. Bringing them back could breathe new life into coastal ecosystems — and protect coastal communities’ against sea level rise. We spoke to Claire Arre about how Orange County Coastkeeper is using a “living shorelines” approach to reintroduce native oysters in Orange County and how other regions can use this strategy too.
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Fans of the induction cooktops say it’s how we’ll electrify our homes, breathe cleaner air… and maybe cook better too. The hitch? Installing these cooktops often requires expensive and time consuming rewiring. We spoke to Channing Street Copper Company, a startup whose new induction cooktop could help make the technology more accessible by which plugging directly into the wall.
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As climate change exacerbates droughts, agricultural pollution may jeopardize our drinking water more often. Climate Break spoke to Jennifer Terry, external affairs manager for Iowa’s largest drinking water utility, about the collaborative strategies they’re using to help farmers reduce polluted runoff and protect Iowan’s drinking water.
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Heat pumps are a more sustainable and efficient way to heat homes than to conventional gas heat, but they’re often too expensive for homeowners to install. Meet the GeoGrid, an underground geothermal heat pump network that could make the technology more efficient and accessible. Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) is a nonprofit working with utilities to develop GeoGrids in residential neighborhoods. We spoke to HEET Executive Directors Audrey Schulman and Zeyneb Magavi about heat pumps and the advantage to connecting them via a GeoGrid approach.
Over the last two decades, vegan leather has grown in popularity. The catch? It’s usually made with polyesters that can’t be recycled. In today’s episode, we speak to the cofounder of biomaterials company Polybion about their carbon neutral leather alternative Celium, which is produced by feeding agricultural waste to bacteria.
Native communities have disproportionately low access to and pay higher rates for utilities, particularly electricity, which has a significant impact on access and opportunities for remote work, education, and other activities. The Indigenous Energy Initiative works to increase indigenous energy ownership and access in order to address the social, economic, and environmental injustices that native communities face. This week, Chéri Smith, founder and CEO of IEI, discusses their strategy for assisting indigenous communities and eliminating energy poverty.
The textile industry produces up to 10% of global emissions and 20% of global wastewater, according to EU estimates. Mechanical recycling can reduce that impact by keeping textiles out of landfills — and in the circular economy — for longer. In this episode, Climate Break spoke to Bobby Carswell about Material Return about how locally based mechanical recycling can help make the US textile industry more circular and less polluting.
Listen and Read MoreBringing Local Textile Recycling to the US with Material Return’s Bobby Carswell
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Office buildings, high rises, and greenhouses are covered in windows. What if we used all that window space to capture solar energy and add to the grid’s renewable energy supply? Listen to University of Michigan engineering professor Steven Forrest explain how a change in the semiconducors used in solar panels could allow us to transform windows into power sources — without sacrificing light and transparency.
When plants photosynthesize, they temporarily remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Could we use gene editing technology CRISPR to enhance photosynthesis and increase the amount of carbon dioxide they remove? UC Berkeley biology Professor and photosynthesis expert Kris Niyogi thinks so, and he says it could fight climate change and enhance food production at the same time. In this episode, Climate Break speaks to Professor Niyogi about his lab’s early-stage research into CRISPR, photosynthesis, and applications to climate change.