5 surprising products companies are making from carbon dioxide

You could be sitting on one of them.

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5 surprising products companies are making from carbon dioxide

Why protecting the Earth’s ozone layer requires faithful vigilance

Levels change naturally from year to year, which makes it difficult to calculate the exact, short-term impact of industrial activities.

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Why protecting the Earth’s ozone layer requires faithful vigilance

Rethinking paper and sustainable printing

Sponsored: Going paperless seems a good way to protect the environment, but it is not entirely realistic for the modern office and, increasingly, unnecessary.

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Rethinking paper and sustainable printing

Van Jones on solving the greatest social and climate challenges

The best of live interviews from GreenBiz events. This episode: The author and former White House green jobs czar on equity and sustainability.

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Van Jones on solving the greatest social and climate challenges

Do these oil and mining companies belong on CDP’s Climate A List?

Braskem, Galp Energia and Harmony Gold Mining are cutting emissions without science-based targets.

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Do these oil and mining companies belong on CDP’s Climate A List?

Airlines will consume a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050

Manufacturers are engaged in a fast-paced fight to deliver efficiency gains that outstrip projected industry growth, says UTC.

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Airlines will consume a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050

Rushing to fill the vacuum, companies deliver more sustainable products

Nature abhors a vacuum. Or so my old physics teacher and Gary Larson’s “Far Side” cartoon liked to say.And so it is with action on sustainability. In this time of political uncertainty in the U.S., Europe and beyond, it is heartening to see civil society and the private sector rushing forward to fill the gaps.

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Rushing to fill the vacuum, companies deliver more sustainable products

10 minutes with Leigh Ann Johnston, Tyson Foods

Why the food giant has stepped up its quest to be transparent and accountable for its supply chain.

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10 minutes with Leigh Ann Johnston, Tyson Foods

Researchers turn recycled aluminum foil into cheaper, eco-friendlier biofuels

Don’t toss your bagel wrapper in the trash just yet; scientists at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland say they have discovered a way to turn used aluminum foil into a catalyst to create cheaper, eco-friendlier biofuels . Working with engineers from the university, Ahmed Osman, an early career researcher at the school of chemistry and chemical engineering, has developed a technique that extracts 100 percent pure single crystals of aluminum salts from contaminated foil, without creating harmful emissions or waste. The salts can be used to kickstart the preparation of alumina catalyst, which can then be used to produce dimethyl ether, a nontoxic, clean-burning fuel that is typically manufactured from plant-based biomass. This process has a couple of distinct advantages, Osman said. Current methods of creating this type of alumina involves bauxite ore, the mining of which causes appreciable environmental damage in countries such as West Africa, the West Indies, and Australia. Related: Breakthrough algae strain produces twice as much biofuel There’s also the abundance of aluminum foil packaging waste. Because grease in used foil can muck up recycling equipment, nearly 20,000 tons of the stuff—enough to reach the moon and back—is either landfilled or incinerated in the United Kingdom alone. Osman plans to fine-tune his research so he can explore opportunities for commercialization, whether for biofuel production or the use of the modified alumina catalyst in the catalytic converters of natural-gas vehicles. “This breakthrough is significant as not only is the alumina more pure than its commercial counterpart, it could also reduce the amount of aluminum foil going to landfill while also sidestepping the environmental damage associated with mining bauxite,” Osman said in a statement . + Queen’s University Belfast Via New Atlas Photo by blikss/Flickr

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Researchers turn recycled aluminum foil into cheaper, eco-friendlier biofuels

Breakthrough algae strain produces twice as much biofuel

Scientists have been working since the 1970’s to transform algae into biofuel . Now a new breakthrough could make this alternative energy source a more viable option. Researchers from Synthetic Genomics, Inc. and ExxonMobil were able to edit algae genes to produce two times more lipids. Those lipids can be turned into biofuel that isn’t too different from the diesel we use today. Researchers figured out how to tune a genetic switch to regulate the conversion of carbon to oil in the alga Nannochloropsis gaditana . They used multiple editing techniques including CRISPR-Cas9. They were able to boost the algae’s oil content from 20 percent to over 40 percent – and importantly, did so without stunting the algae’s growth rate. The modified algae can produce as much as five grams of lipid per meter per day. Related: New biofuel from wastewater slashes vehicle CO2 emissions by 80% Vice president for research and development at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company Vijay Swarup said the milestone confirms their belief algae can offer a source of renewable energy . Synthetic Genomics CEO Oliver Fetzer said carbon dioxide and sunlight are two major components necessary for algae production, and both are plentiful and free. According to ScienceAlert, a past report indicated biofuels from algae could become a $50 billion industry , with the potential to offer transport fuel and food security. But we still could be years away from pumping this particular algae-based biofuel into our cars at gas stations. Researcher Imad Ajjawi of Synthetic Genomics told ScienceAlert this step was just a proof of concept, but did describe it as a significant milestone. According to Greentech Media , organizations have been working on making biofuel from algae for years, without much progress towards commercialization. In fact, they cited former ExxonMobil CEO and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson , who back in 2009 said the work on turning algae into biofuels might not come up with real results for 25 years. The journal Nature Biotechnology published a study on the concept online this month. Via ScienceAlert and Synthetic Genomics Images via ExxonMobil and Wikimedia Commons

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Breakthrough algae strain produces twice as much biofuel

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