An innovative approach to addressing oil waste proposes using spent cooking oil as airline fuel. This week, we talked to Dr. Colin Murphy, co-director of the ITS-Davis Low Carbon Fuel Policy Research Initiative, about this solution.
Typical wind turbines, critical as they are to the renewable energy transition, are wasteful to produce and almost impossible to reuse. We spoke to Ryan Clarke, a materials scientist at Hexion Inc, about new turbines made out of recyclable resin, which not only utilize less energy in production, but also create less waste as they can be recycled.
As cities and communities around the world grapple with the need for affordable housing while also addressing climate change, sustainable wood provides a promising solution. Able to replace carbon-intensive traditional building materials, sequester carbon, and lower emissions, sustainable wood has the potential to redefine the future of low-carbon building. On this week’s Climate Break, UC Berkeley Professor Dr. Paul Mayencourt, explains how sustainable wood from mass timber could help mitigate the impact of climate change and transform the construction industry.
Single-use plastic is detrimental to the environment, creating huge amounts of waste. This week, we spoke to Jesse Langley, CEO of Lotus Sustainables, about eliminating single-use plastic bags with reusable alternatives.
The vast majority of plastics are currently made using fossil fuels in a production process that emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Once produced, fossil fuel-based plastics take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose, and when they finally do, they release dangerous microplastics into the environment. We spoke to Dr. Srinivas Janaswamy, an associate professor at South Dakota State University, about transforming coffee grounds into a biodegradable and sustainable alternative to plastic packaging.
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.
Both food waste and hunger are big problems, but connecting extra food to the people who need it most is often a challenge. In today’s episode, Climate Break talks to Replate, a platform making it easier for businesses to donate their food rather than throwing it out.
In an attempt to reduce methane emissions, California’s SB 1383 has mandated municipalities dramatically increase the amount of organic waste they compost. But responsibly composting at such a large scale takes energy. In this episode from 2022, we spoke to Chris Seney of Republic Services about how their first of its kind solar powered compost facility in Chula Vista, California, could provide a carbon emissions free way to power composting’s expansion.
Concentrated beer formulas that minimize water content and transportation emissions are reducing the carbon footprint of the beer industry. This groundbreaking approach presents an opportunity for both producers and consumers to make more environmentally responsible choices when consuming beer.
Methane—the greenhouse gas most associated with cows—poses a significant threat to increasing the rate of global warming. We spoke to Brett Reinford of Reinford Farms in Pennsylvania about his personal experience navigating the costs and benefits of utilizing an anaerobic digester.