The plants grown to satisfy global demand for cooking oils–including soybean, palm, sunflower, peanut, avocado, coconut, canola, and olive–now comprise nearly 25% of the world’s cropland. The planting and harvesting of these crops are significant contributors to the deforestation of old-growth forests, producing substantial carbon emissions. Zero Acre Farms, A California-based startup, is hoping to change that by fermenting sugarcane with microorganisms from algae in order to convert the sugar into oil.

  • Vegetable oils are leading drivers of deforestation, land use, water consumption, and biodiversity loss.
  • Compared to the most prevalent vegetable oil in the U.S. (soybean oil), Zero Acre oil emits 86% fewer greenhouse gases, consumes 83% less water, and uses 90% less land.
  • If just 5% of vegetable oil in the United States were replaced with Zero Acre oil, it would save 3.1 million acres of land — about the size of Connecticut! When used in place of olive oil, every 16-oz bottle of Zero Acre oil saves 222 square feet of land.
  • Zero Acre oil requires 88% less water than palm oil, 90% less water than sunflower oil, and 300 times less water than olive oil. Using one 16-oz bottle of Zero Acre oil instead of the same amount of olive oil saves 5,000 cups of water.
  • Zero Acre oil comes in a 100% recyclable BPA-free aluminium bottle, offering a more sustainable option than plastic or glass

Good News

 

Not so Good News

Bad News

 

Upcoming Events

Book for free here through Eventbrite Stockport’s 3rd Climate Action Now Summit.

 

Other Media News

BBC Sounds – Poet Laureate in the Arctic – Available Episodes. Simon Armitage is in the Arctic, to see for himself what’s happening in a part of the world that’s so crucial to the climate change debate, and to write new poems in response.

The latest excellent (10 min) video from ‘Just Have a Think’ is This energy storage technology is HOT STUFF! It is basically about a very sustainable way of storing energy. Rondo Energy just secured $60 million of funding from some of the world’s shrewdest investors. So, can they now achieve their goal of a 90GWh per annum production facility for their simple heat battery technology, reducing global industrial CO2 emissions by 12 MILLION tonnes per year? Time will tell!