Episodes
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In this week's briefing I chatted to Simon Manley from UNDO, who will be taking us on a journey through carbon removals when he speaks at the Big Zero Show in July.
If you've not heard of carbon removal, it's a bit similar to carbon capture but often involves passive natural resources to grab the carbon out of the air, in the case of UNDO they are using rocks and natural weathering to do the job.
Check out this quick intro into the topic and why it can be a tool used by businesses of all sizes today, to help them on their pathway to net zero.
Catch Simon in person on day One of the show.
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This week we start the first in our series of Big Zero Briefings, where I chat with one of the speakers from the Big Zero Show.
In this episode I chat to leading economist Vicky Pryce as she reveals how financing and your net zero credentials are increasingly interconnected. Vicky will be guiding you through what you can do to find funding for your net zero projects, how policies will affect you and why banks may soon give you a carbon based credit rating!
Don't miss her talk at the show, get your free ticket now.
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Missing episodes?
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Can tourism ever be green?
It's one of those double edged swords, tourism brings wealth and changes lives often in some of the poorest parts of the world, yet the effect of tourists can be damaging to the environment.
London is a world tourism hub with more than 2.5 million international visitors last year, let alone the thousands of Brits who visit the Capital from around the UK. One of the must do things is to jump on a sightseeing bus and cruise the streets and one company, Tootbus, aims to make that tourist experience as low carbon as possible.
I joined Gavin Brooking, the MD of Tootbus on a tour of the city aboard an EV bus and explored his desire to retrofit old buses and make them all low emission, watch and listen and don't forget to subscribe.
Oh and you can see the Tootbus in action at the Big Zero Show grab your free ticket now!
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Now it's great when you the audience get in touch to tell your net hero story.
That's exactly what Robert Johnson, of Arigna Fuels did and what a tale he has to tell. It's all about solid fuels especially for the rural market in Ireland, where Arigna is based.
Being very open and honest, he explained how they were still selling coal but trying to clean up their solid fuel offering, by moving into something called biochar - a biomass based brickquette which burns almost as well.
In rural Ireland, they have thousands of customers using solid fuels who have no other option and cannot afford to replace their burners with solar panels or heat pumps. But Robert is leading work to try and offer a cleaner fuel with a much lower carbon footprint and fewer emissions.
So is this a waste of energy and resources as we all know we shouldn't be burning stuff? Or is it the right approach to help those who cannot afford to change infrastructure, clean up their emissions?
I admire what they are doing and think it's based on pragmatism and reality, what's your view? Listen in, comment and follow us on social media. And like Robert if you want to feature on the podcast drop me a line.
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Vertical farming, or farms in the sky, sounds well sexy doesn’t it, conjuring up images of sci-fi clean rooms growing everything from ginger to grapes.
The truth is a little bit less sci-fi but maybe more net zero. Vertical farming allows, in general, salad crops (lettuce, rocket, kale etc), to be grown without soil, in vertical trays up to 6m in height.
As the plants are in a controlled environment there is no need for fertilisers or pesticides and they can be grown all year round.
In this episode I spoke to Jack Farmer from LettUs Grow, who have been using aeroponic (soil free) warehouses to grow crops with on average a 70% increase in yield.
He explained how vertical farming could help developed nations reduce emissions from agriculture and if some of this science can be used in hotter more arid environments.
Listen in an subscribe and don’t forget to share on social media.
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Now time for that great debate... is meat compatible with a net zero future?
Globally we consume more meat now than at anytime in human history. In the UK alone a billion chickens a year make it onto our plates in some form. Add to that about a million pigs slaughtered monthly and you can see that there is a lot of appetite out there!
In terms of net zero, we are told we need to reduce meat consumption due to the amount of emissions associated with the sector, from cow burps, pig poop, water, land use, let alone slaughtering and packaging.
Then of course there is the moral argument. Suffering and welfare and of course the environmental effects, have seen vegetarian and vegan options become commonplace on menus.
But is there something that could satisfy our desire for meat but cause less emissions and suffering? That's the topic I discuss with Che Connon, an academic and managing director of BSF Enterprise. They have created lab grown pork from cells, with the same taste and texture and properties of real meat.
They are also experimenting on tissue engineering to create a lab grown leather and other bio products, with the aim of reducing the emissions and suffering of animals.
I really enjoyed this chat, let me know what you think and do subscribe and share the podcast.
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James Turner joins Future Net Zero on their latest PODCAST to discuss our renewable options, how green is green energy and the importance of traceability.
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Ok it had to happen. For dinosaurs, substitute the Dodo and the Mammoth. For a theme park, substitute the more altruistic goal of combatting climate change.
Yep, that’s right. A company called Colossal Biosciences from America is trying to bring back extinct species in a bid to rebalance the natural carbon cycle as well as fight the extinction of endangered species.
Their plan is to create the first Woolly Mammoth since the Ice Age, as co-founder Ben Lamm explained, as he believes the giant elephants reintroduced to the arctic could help stablise the climate.
Sounds like something right out of a sci-fi novel or movie but they are doing the science and believe the first mammoth calf could be born within the next two years.
So is this a vanity science project or real conservation work to help combat our effects on the environment. Listen in and make up your mind, don't forget to subscribe!
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The humble shroom. You can have it on your plate and it’s a delicacy. You can see it growing on your walls and it’s a pest. You can see it on trees and it’s a natural composter.
But could fungi be the thing your home of the future is made from?
They have amazing properties and can be made into materials like insulation board or blocks and new research is showing they can literally ‘eat’ hard to recycle plastics or other toxic materials.
In fact, their abilities are unknown but Ehab Sayed, founder of a company called BIOHM, thinks they are our greatest natural allies in the fight against climate change.
Listen to our chat, where Ehab outlines the possible uses of fungi, from making sustainable leather to cleaning up our oceans, let alone changing the face of construction.
Let me know your thoughts and do subscribe to the podcast and our net hero newsletter.
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It’s that first world problem, three years on your computer needs replacing because it’s struggling and slow but what if you didn’t have to chuck it into the skip?
What if you could replace that cracked screen, or update the memory or even swap out the processor, so your laptop can go on and on?
That’s the idea behind Framework, a PC company from San Francisco led by Nirav Patel. They have built a pc you can update as time goes on and replace things like keyboards or screens, the premise being the more we can service ourselves, the less e-waste as computers can go on much longer.
Sounds like a dream for computer nerds! But will it work for people like me who just about can turn a computer on? Listen to our podcast and see if this really is way to cut the amount of waste and reduce emissions as Nirav believes it could work for lots more electronic products…
Please subscribe to the newsletter and the podcast. Also let me know if you have a story to tell, just email [email protected]
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Plastic… enemy no 1 for the green lobby. We’ve learned to vilify it, from straws, to bags, to the giant rubbish patch in the Pacific. No one seems to have a good word to say about it these days. Especially as it’s a direct by-product of the oil and gas sector.
But stop a minute.
Where would we have been without plastic during the pandemic? How would I be typing this story without the plastic keys of my keyboard? Let me know how you’d get by without it? You can’t. From cars, to phones, to toys, to TVs. Medical equipment to windows. Plastic is vital.
The issue isn’t that all plastic is bad, the issue is a lot of it is very difficult to recycle and often there is no economic case to do so, until now.
This week I spoke to Adela Putinelu from Plastic Energy, a company that has found a way to do both things. They can take things like plastic film or the shiny foil plastic that your crisps come in and turn that back into the base chemicals that make plastic. This then goes back to the manufacturers or the petrochemical sector, negating the need to use fresh sources of oil to make plastics.
So, plastic gets recycled all the way back to its component material and we save on new emissions as there’s no need to dig up more fossil fuels for the feedstock.
I loved it! Listen in for the full story and remember to subscribe to our net hero newsletter and follow us on social media.
If you have a tale to tell contact us on [email protected].
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Is net zero here already?
Well not quite but according Stew Horne, Head of Policy at the Energy Saving Trust and the guest on this week’s podcast, we are missing a massive trick.
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Ah heat pumps - you love them or hate them.
I've never really worked out why they trigger such reactions in people. Many believe they are the ultimate answer to us decarbonising heat, others say they are an expensive redundant technology even before they are widely used.
What is the truth? Well I have often thought they can do a lot for the right home and office but only if the circumstances are right, eg a new build development. I have been less convinced if they can be a retrofit option for our buildings especially in terraced housing or compact commercial properties.
So this week Alistair Murray from Rendesco talks me through what they are, how they work and if they really are marmite or not! We discuss their use, cost and deployment and the truth behind some of the headlines, good or bad.
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Two words from ancient history? Maybe actually two words for the green net zero future?
On the podcast this week I discuss if voltage optimisation is a bit of unloved technology, which could be helping businesses right now to cut their carbon and save money. The technology has been around for decades and works by making sure the electric machinery and devices operate at the optimal voltage, which is often a lot lower than the 240V we have as standard. It saves energy use and lengthens the lifespan of devices.
A decade ago many businesses used voltage optimisation but as the efficiency of products has improved, it’s become somewhat of a technology of yesterday but maybe that’s wrong.
I speak to Michael Lambert from powerPerfector who explains why voltage optimisation may actually be the right kit to help cut carbon and cost right now and why he believes its role in our decentralised energy future will be vital.
Listen and subscribe.
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Money makes the world go round. But does it make it better?
For centuries, the world of finance has always been at the heart of everything we have done from trade to infrastructure, from wars to disaster relief. Commerce drives all our decisions and choices, whether we like it or not.
So where does it sit when it comes to net zero? Well the past three years there have been big commitments made to help fund decarbonisation and level up the global debt mountains, to help poorer nations tackle climate change. But has much really happened?
We need finance to fund all these changes but the returns are often years away, that means we still have lots of money making returns from fossil fuels at present. So are we anyway near a finance system that cares about greenery, rather than being in the black?
Join my great chat with Heather Buchanan, CEO of Bankers for Net Zero, as we explore the true colour of net zero money…
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Insects are the kings of the planet. They live everywhere and are the most numerous animal on Earth.
We’ve heard endless stories about how eating insects will be the key to cutting our emissions from our food chain. I’m not so sure we’d all be switching to a cockroach curry or stick insect pie.
But they are nature’s ultimate waste disposal experts and one company has come up with a way to use them for just that.
In this podcast I speak to Larry Kotch, co-founder of Flybox. It does what it says and makes modular boxes which grow soldier fly larvae, they are voracious eaters and can munch through organic waste. But not only do they eat the waste, so you don’t have to incinerate or send to landfill, they are also a great feed stock for the petfood, fishing and agriculture sectors.
So you make money, reduce waste and cut emissions all naturally! Now that’s a real buzz, listen now and subscribe.
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What if you could recycle your floor tiles or wall decorations time and again?
The start of Spring is almost here and it’s generally the time to throw things out and spruce stuff up. DIY shops get very busy soon as everyone looks at a home makeover.
Walls and ceilings can be repainted. Furniture can be repaired and replaced but floors? We’re normally stuck with them for years.
But what if changing your floor wasn’t as expensive? What if it wasn’t as bad for the environment either?
Designer Susana Lopez has created a company called ALDStone which specialises in sustainable flooring. She’s come up with a reusable underlay, which can have, wood, tiles or carpet laid on it time and time again. It’s brilliant for thermal insulation and made of sustainable materials.
So is this the future for green flooring? Listen in and let me know what you think. For me it’s a very clever idea! Enjoy the podcast and share it with your friends.
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The weather is all over the place right now but it's certainly been cold and I'm sure you've had your heating on.
The affordability of heat is a real issue for society, politicans and the energy industry. We have people despite government subsidies, really struggling to pay to keep warm. Our homes leak heat endlessly and our businesses and industries are no better.
So how can we tackle the heat question? How can we keep warm or cold, (think of the growing need for air conditioning around the globe), in the most low carbon way? That's part of the conundrum being studied at Leeds Beckett University's Sustainability Institute. I spoke to Professor David Glew who is Director of the institute to discuss what we can do to address the issue of heat and the wider science behind cutting emissions.
Listen in to a brilliant discussion which covers a wide range of subjects on how important science based testing of net zero technologies is for our future.
Subscribe and keep sharing!
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Can you look good without killing the planet? We all know the cost of fast fashion not just on resources but also on people, from child labour, to using chemical polluting dyes, it’s an industry that has come under scrutiny a lot over recent years.
But there is another side to it that is perhaps less discussed, that’s the enormous carbon footprint. Clothes are generally made from natural or synthetic fibres. The latter we all know are mainly by products from the hydrocarbon industry but natural fibres like silk and cotton also have a huge emissions impact.
On this week’s podcast Ietje Klaver is my guest and she’s from a company called Pyratex, which is trying to cut the carbon from our clothes right at the start of the journey – the original fibres. They are using recycled cotton fibres from old clothes, ones grown from seaweed, orange and banana waste and using new techniques trying to make textiles which can be reused again and again.
So could this innovation keep fashion on the right side of the climate catwalk? Listen in and subscribe!
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Is climate change a religious topic ? Can we learn from those who believe in God when it comes to convincing us to change our ways?
Is the truth that net zero is missing the heavenly touch? That’s what I discussed with Michael Pollitt Professor of Business Economics at the Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge.
He’s looked at how the messages of climate change pushed out by environmentalists, companies, politicans and the media measure up against the word of God.
In essence does all the negative messaging about doom, gloom and 1.5C+ act against our collective psyche and so, instead of encouraging change make us more resigned to inaction?
Michael and I discuss if we need to reframe the messages to be more positive and if the power of people with faith, which is the vast majority of the planet, is the key way to get us all to cut emissions.
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