• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Earth Wise

A look at our changing environment.

  • Home
  • About Earth Wise
  • Where to Listen
  • All Articles
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Archives for bill gates

bill gates

Synthetic Palm Oil | Earth Wise

February 18, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Palm oil is the world’s cheapest and most widely used vegetable oil.  Producing it is a primary driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss in the tropics.  In Borneo, for example, oil palm cultivation has accounted for more than half of all deforestation over the past two decades.   More than one million square miles of biodiversity hotspots could be threatened by oil palm cultivation, which could potentially affect more than 40% of all threatened bird, mammal, and amphibian species.

Today, the world consumes over 70 million tons of palm oil each year, used in products ranging from toothpaste and oat milk to biodiesel and laundry detergent.

Given this situation, there are now multiple companies developing microbial oils that might offer an alternative to palm oil while avoiding its most destructive impacts.

A company called C16 Biosciences is working on the problem in Manhattan, backed by $20 million from a Bill Gates’ climate solutions investment fund.  A California-based startup called Kiverdi is working to manufacture yeast oil using carbon captured from the atmosphere. 

Xylome, a Wisconsin-based startup is working to produce a palm oil alternative that they call “Yoil”, produced by a proprietary strain of yeast.  The oil from the yeast strain is remarkably similar to palm oil. 

The challenge is to be able to produce microbial oils at large scale and at a competitive price.  Unless valuable co-products could be manufactured along with the oil, it may be difficult to compete with palm oil.  Without regulatory pressures and willingness of consumers to pay more, it may be difficult to replace palm oil in many of its applications.

**********

Web Links

Can Synthetic Palm Oil Help Save the World’s Tropical Forests?

Photo, posted December 9, 2008, courtesy of Fitri Agung via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Extreme Heat From Solar Power | Earth Wise

January 23, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Renewable sources are playing a growing role in meeting our energy needs, but one place where they have continued to fall short is in industrial processes that require extreme heat.  These include the cement, steel, and glass industries, among others.  These industries account for a significant amount of CO2 emissions because the most effective way to reach the necessary temperatures continues to be combustion of fossil fuels.  The cement industry alone accounts for 7% of global emissions and the need for cement continues to grow.

A previously stealthy startup company backed by Bill Gates and fellow billionaire Soon-Shiong has made a breakthrough in the area of using solar energy to achieve high temperatures.  The company, called Heliogen, has created a solar oven that is capable of generating heat above 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, which is enough for high-temperature industrial processes.

The Heliogen technology uses concentrated solar power to generate heat.  Concentrated solar power uses arrays of mirrors to reflect sunlight and focus it to a single point.  That technology is not new;  there are systems that use it to produce electricity and, to some extent, heat for industry.  But it could not achieve high enough temperatures for producing cement or steel.

The new system uses computer vision software, automatic edge detection and other sophisticated technologies to focus the sun’s rays far more finely than ever before and thereby generate far higher temperatures at the focal point.

Heliogen is now focused on demonstrating how the technology can be used in a large-scale application, such as cement-making.  The selling points to industry are that not only will there be no emissions generated, but that the fuel needed to obtain their extreme heat will be free.

**********

Web Links

Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough

Photo courtesy of Heliogen.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Episodes

  • How To Meet Protected Land Targets | Earth Wise
  • Sustainable Jet Fuel | Earth Wise
  • Protecting Wetlands | Earth Wise
  • Offshore Wind Industry In New York | Earth Wise
  • Protected Areas Are Not Protecting Insects | Earth Wise

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)

Copyright © 2023 ·