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.
Month: January 2023
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.
When emissions aren’t tracked, it’s harder for organizations to see how they can reduce their carbon footprints. Climate Break spoke with Dan Krekelberg, policy director of Climate Registry, about how centralizing emissions data can help organizations and agencies track and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
To decarbonize transportation, we’ll need to switch to electric cars. New electric vehicles are decreasing in price and increasing in range and accessibility, but remain out of reach for many. Could EV Retrofitting, a process that converts cars from internal combustion to electric in just a few hours, be what fills in the gap? Listen to Climate Break talk to Dr. Aly El Tayeb, founder of Egyptian retrofitting startup EV Shift, about its potential.