🌍 Protein made from air #07
Fixing leaky air ducts with aerosols and turning pollution into fertiliser
Hey there!
This week I thought I was going to try out a new format for the newsletter by focusing on just one topic, but here I am on Thursday afternoon and I've never struggled to write this newsletter so much. It is probably a combination of not being as excited about the format as I initially thought and the fact that my general optimistic outlook on solving climate issues has taken a bit of a hit.
Seeing how many people fail to grasp the importance of adequately dealing with the current coronavirus pandemic is disheartening, Germany is currently facing a wave twice as bad as any of the ones before. This lacklustre effort in the face of a crisis does not fill me with confidence that we will deal with the climate crisis before it is way too late, if we even deal with it properly then. I truly hope that this is not the case 🤞
Now, that I've got this rant off my chest and deleted the newsletter draft, I'll start again. After all, you did not subscribe to hear me vent but rather read about startups doing something to preserve the future of our planet. So, let's dive into it before too many people delete this email 🤗
Welcome to the seventh edition of the 'tings with impact newsletter 🌍
This week we are looking at Solar Foods who are making protein out of air and electricity, Aeroseal who have developed a patented spray to stop air leaks in ventilation systems, and Daphne Technology who have developed technology to transform ship exhaust gases into fertiliser.
I'll spare the little 'ting for this week as you've already had the pleasure of reading my rant 😅
💨 Solar Foods – Making protein out of air
Food production currently accounts for a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. An outsized portion of those emissions comes from meat, dairy and fish, at a whopping 53%, crops for human food makes up 29% and supply chain related activities make up the remaining 18% (this is not split based on food type).
In the previous edition of the newsletter we discovered that global food production needs to increase by 70% by 2050 to feed our growing population, with the share of vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy and fish in global diets increasing compared to staples such as grains and rice.
Reducing the emissions of food production will not be the only challenge, finding enough space will also be difficult. We already take up 50% of habitable land on this earth for agriculture, of which 77% is for livestock and 23% for crops. Although livestock takes up 77% of land it only produces 37% of the global protein supply 🤨
That's where Solar Foods comes in as they have developed a way to create food that is completely detached from agricultural processes... they can make protein out of air!
Well, they need a little more than air to make it. Solar Foods extract water from air as one of their building blocks. Then, similar to the process of making beer, where barley is fermented in a bioreactor to allow yeast, a single-cell organism, to break down sugar into alcohol, Solar Foods put their single-cell organisms in the extracted water and feed them with captured CO2 and nutrients like nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus and potassium (which plants naturally absorb from the soil). The end-product is a protein rich powder called Solein, which is made up of 65-70% protein, 10-15% dietary fibre, 5-8% fat, and 3-5% mineral nutrients.
All of this is of course powered by renewable electricity resulting in a protein that is 100x better for the environment than meat and 10x better than plant-based protein. Solein protein uses almost no land to produce, a lot less water, no fertilisers, no pesticides, no fuel for tractors and is not part of a complex food chain, it is a single-cell organism. The efficiency of energy consumed to calorie produced is incredibly high.
Solein is completely tasteless, it is not meant to be a sole food source, but a sustainable protein source for food production. It can be used to create more nutritious food products (e.g. fortifying noodles), in meat-alternatives, or to provide the nutrients for cultured meat production.
At the current scale they are planning for their factories, Solein will cost $6 per kg which would compete with protein alternatives (besides soy) in price.
🏢 Aeroseal – Fixing leaky air ducts with aerosols
Buildings and their construction make up almost 40% of direct and indirect CO2 emissions and take up more than a third of final energy consumption according to the IEA. Around 30-40% of energy consumed by buildings is for heating and cooling, and with increasingly extreme weather around the globe this is likely to continue growing.
The benefit of living in an old building in Berlin is that I have nice 3 metre high ceilings... but the downside of the age is that it is not the most efficient building. I have to put a blanket down in front of the door to stop the nice warm air from leaking out of the apartment. Yeah, not very energy efficient. Even modern buildings with central ventilation systems suffer from a lot of air loss. As much as 30% of air circulating in HVAC systems (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) is lost through leaks, holes or poor connections. That results in a lot of wasted energy to replenish the lost air.
According to 2150, a venture capital firm backing companies who shape the future of sustainable cities, sealing every leaky duct in homes and commercial buildings could reduce global CO2 emissions by 0.7 gigatons (1.4% of annual emissions). They, alongside Bill Gate's Breakthrough Energy Ventures and other investors, backed Aeroseal who have developed a patented spray that seals HVAC air leaks. To achieve that, they block off all access points to an HVAC system, like vents, heating, and cooling units, and then pressurise the whole system. They then inject a fog of sealant particles into the pressurised system, which travel to all the areas where air is escaping the system to cover cracks and holes as large as ~ 1.3cm (0.5 inches). Sealing from within the ducts reduces any need for construction or demolition to plug holes and seals even the hardest to reach areas.
A little more high-tech than my blanket in front of the door solution 😉
🚢 Daphne Technology – Turning pollution into fertiliser
Around 90% of everything we buy will have travelled on a ship at some point! There are around 100,000 commercial vessels operating globally to make that happen, which are responsible for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 3% is quite a bit lower than I expected and is one of the reasons why the shipping industry managed to exempt itself from the Paris agreement in 2015. The pace at which shipping's emissions are increasing shows a different story though. Shipping emissions are up 70% since 1990 and could increase by as much as another 250% by 2050, which could make it responsible for a lot more than 3% of annual emissions if left unregulated. The shipping industry, due to external pressure, has implemented self-regulation to cut emissions 50% by 2050. Not ideal, but better than nothing I guess.
To propel commercial ships around the globe 300 million tons of fuel are burned per year. The combustion of that magnitude of fuel releases a lot of toxic and greenhouse gases, such as sulphur and nitrogen oxides, methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The shipping industry is one that is built on economies of scale and standardisation. We have all benefited from this by being able to buy affordable shoes, technology, food, and many other things from across the globe. But, this standardised nature of the industry means that it will require monumental efforts and funds to transition towards decarbonised shipping. In the time that it will take to retool an entire industry we need to come up with solutions to address emissions today!
Daphne Technology, a Swiss startup, has developed an exhaust gas purifying system that can be installed on ships in 4-7 days without the need to take them out of the water. Their solution can be applied to ships that use a variety of fuel sources. In the case of ships using oil based fuels, the system is able to capture toxic pollutants like Sulphur Oxide and Nitrogen Oxide and break them down into fertiliser that can be used for food production. Liquified natural gas (LNG) is a marine fuel that is increasing in popularity as the cleanest fossil fuel as it primarily emits water vapour and 30-50% less CO2 than other fuels (as with the shipping industry's self-regulation, not ideal, but better than oil based fuels). A big issue with LNG is that it is made up of 95% methane, which is a greenhouse gas 25% more potent than CO2. Daphne Technology's solution is able to capture 90% of unused methane on ships, to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Ultimately Daphne’s tech is not going to make shipping net zero but it can make it a hell of a lot better in the meantime.
Thank you for making it to the end of the newsletter! I hope, despite the rushed nature, that you still enjoyed this edition 🤗
I also want to say welcome to all the new readers that joined in November, its been the fastest growing month since I started on this journey to cover impact startups!
As always, if you have any feedback, ideas, or questions just respond to this email. I'm always happy to hear from you! Especially if you have any tips on how to shorten writing, I always find that I have more to say than fits into the newsletter.
Until next time, much love,
Pascal