Welcome back to some more good news!

This week I got good news regarding sustainability! From converting sewage to energy and the positive effect of conducting greenhouse gas emission reports. We’ll also go into Germany’s new plan and how the elderly are fighting Switzerland. Dive in!

Science

Powered by Sewage

• Scientists at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore have developed a solar-powered treatment method to turn sewage sludge → green hydrogen + single cell protein for animal feed

  • Green hydrogen emits no emissions and produces water as a byproduct

  • Simultaneously curbs waste and generates resource

  • Three-step solar-powered process:

    1. Mechanically break down the sludge

    2. Electrochemically transform organic material into products like acetic acid and hydrogen gas using special electrodes

    3. Use light-activated bacteria to turn nutrients into animal feed

  • Recovers 91.4% of the organic carbon, converting 63% of the carbon into single-cell protein

  • Is around 10% more energy efficient than conventional hydrogen generation methods

  • This method reduces carbon emissions by 99.5% compared to traditional waste removal, and energy use by 99.3%

Business

Germany’s New Deal

• Germany's new spending deal has allocated €100 billion for climate projects

• Various companies' stocks in renewable energy generation spaces have soared

• Alongside the deal, the climate neutrality goal will be WRITTEN INTO THE GERMAN CONSTITUTION.

  • To override a constitutional amendment requires two-thirds majority in both chambers of parliament

  • This will future-proof against far-right lawmakers

• The spending package needs to be approved before March 25 to get added to the Constitution. After that, opposing parties may get the necessary votes to stop it.

Politics

The Effect of GHG Inventory

• Cities have taken various efforts over the years to reduce carbon footprint

• New research is showing that simply figuring out the greenhouse gas emissons numbers leads to lower emissions

• After sampling 702 cities, Kansas University researchers found that there was a reduction of about 22 pounds per capita when a greenhouse gas emission inventory was taken

Activism

Elderly vs Switzerland, and Bad Temperature Quality

• KlimaSeniorinnen, a group of 2,000+ elderly Swiss women, won the argument against the Swiss government, stating that the members' rights to privacy and family life were being breached due to heatwaves

• The Council of Europe's minister committee deemed that Switzerland was indeed not doing enough to follow through on the previous decision to cut GHG emissions.

• Switzerland is still looking to close the case, but this is a good win

Thank you so much for reading!

If you like the content you’ve been reading, I would encourage you to introduce us to your friends who are also into climate news! We all need some positive news these days.

~ Dhanvi