More climate solutions

Last week, while celebrating the fact that our country finally, finally managed to pass meaningful climate legislation, I also stressed that the new law itself wasn't going to be enough. We still need to keep up efforts to decarbonize our economy at all levels of government, and in the private sector as well. So what's next? Which new approaches will do most to help us cut carbon emissions, and draw down existing emissions, as fast as possible?

Glad you asked! Back in January, in an effort to fight off climate despair, I posted a small roundup of five ideas that had the potential to be game changers on climate. Here are four more — this time, complete with some suggestions on how to help them along.

Game changer #6: Fake meat

Last month, I read a piece in Knowable magazine that posed the question, "How sustainable are fake meats?" The answer turns out to be, "Maybe not as sustainable as other plant-based proteins, but way better than real meat." Measured in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per gram of protein, plant-based faux meats are much better than beef, better than pork or chicken, and in some cases, even better than eggs. They're not as carbon-light as tofu, pulses (legumes), or peas, but they're not that far behind. They use much less water, too. And in terms of land use, they're actually more sustainable.

How much could this help the climate? Quite a bit. According to the article, 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock. Replacing the meat we eat now with faux meat could cut that figure by anywhere from 53% (for pork) to 93% (for beef). So if you figure 70% on average, that's about a tenth of all our greenhouse gas emissions gone.

What's holding it back? Two things: quality and cost. At present, there are good plant-based substitutes for ground beef and chicken nuggets, but not for the good stuff, like steak and chicken breast. And because these meats are pretty cheap, the plant-based versions are currently more expensive.

How can you help make it happen? This one's easy. Fun, even. Just start sampling the wide variety of tasty plant-based meats out there until you find one you really like, and then sub it in for real meat whenever possible. 

Game changer #7: Superhot rock energy

Besides being a really good name for a band, superhot rock energy is "the carbon-free energy resource you've never heard of," according to the Clean Air Task Force (CATF). See, we already know that there's an essentially limitless source of heat energy in the earth's mantle, but the problem is tapping into it. Traditional geothermal energy relies on natural sources of underground steam, which you only find where there are hot spots quite close to the surface. But there are few such locations, which greatly limits its potential as an energy source.

For superhot rock energy, you have to go deeper into the earth's crust, down to the regions where everything is hot. Then you drill wells and inject water to pick up that heat and carry it back to the surface, where you can use it to generate power. It can also serve to split apart water for clean hydrogen fuel. 

How much could this help the climate? It could be huge. We're talking unlimited power that's available basically anywhere, anytime. All you have to do is build the power plants (or repurpose existing fossil-fuel plants) to tap into it. 

What's holding it back? First of all, these wells need to be really deep, and they're in areas that are, by definition, very hot. So we need new techniques and new materials to make it work. And second, you need to figure out how to do it without setting off earthquakes in the process, the way fracking can.

How can you help make it happen? You can donate to organizations (such as CATF) that are working to make this new clean energy source a reality. And in the meantime, you can read up on it, so when climate skeptics start whining about how renewable energy is unreliable because sometimes the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing, you can say, "Well, actually..." and take the wind right out of their sails.

Game changer #8: Plastic-to-graphene recycling

This idea is about as ecofrugal as you can get. It's about turning something harmful that no one wants (plastic waste) into something incredibly useful that everyone wants. According to Design News, scientists at Rice University have figured out how to recycle waste plastic into graphene, a material that's a useful part of electronics, concrete, new plastics, and all kinds of other stuff. And better still, their technique is considerably cheaper than current methods of making graphene.

How much could this help the climate? So, plastic waste isn't just ugly and toxic and harmful to wildlife. It's all of those things, but it's also a threat to the atmosphere because when it ends up in the oceans, microbes digest it and in the process convert oxygen to carbon dioxide. Plastic that ends up in landfills can break down into methane, which is even more harmful. Turning plastic into graphene not only eliminates these emissions sources but also reduces the need for environmentally harmful graphite mining. It's not clear from the article just how big an impact it could have, but considering all the other problems plastic waste creates, having less of it (and better yet, turning it into something useful) is clearly a Very Good Thing.

What's holding it back? Mostly the fact that the idea is so new. The paper announcing it came out less than two years ago, so it will take time to scale it up. But the team at Rice is already getting started, working with Ford Motors to recycle the plastic parts of deceased Ford F-150s.

How can you help make it happen? Well, you could consider a Ford for your next vehicle. But for now, you can probably do more good by reducing plastic waste in other ways, like giving up stupid bottled water.

Game changer #9: Leaner, cleaner, greener air conditioning

Living on a warming planet makes us all more and more dependent on air conditioning — but the more we use air conditioning to cool ourselves, the more we heat the planet. The electricity it uses is part of the problem, but we can fix that by making the power grid greener. The bigger problem is that the coolants in most air conditioners are themselves potent greenhouse gases, and there's no way to keep them perfectly contained. It's an environmental catch-22.

But that may not be the case much longer. A recent Vox article talks about new, experimental air conditioners that could completely change the way we cool ourselves. For instance, a company called Blue Frontier has developed an air conditioner based on a "liquid dessicant": a highly concentrated salt solution that absorbs moisture from indoor air, then releases it outdoors. (A video from a rival company, Advantix, shows how this works.) Another company, Transaera, uses "a novel sponge-like material" to snork up moisture from the air, then recycles the heat thrown off by the machine to dry it out again. And the British company Barocal is using "barocaloric cooling," which depends on a material that heats up as pressure is applied to it and cools off when the pressure is released.

How much could this help the climate? If an A/C unit runs on 100 percent renewable energy, and if it stays completely sealed, it does very little damage. However, those conditions seldom apply. According to the World Economic Forum, if we could replace today's conventional air conditioners with new designs that cut emissions by four-fifths (which these experimental models do), it could eliminate emissions of as much as 100 gigatons of CO2 equivalent by 2050.

What's holding it back? The technology is there, but it's very new. It will take time and money to scale it up.

How can you help make it happen? Unfortunately, you can't buy one of these new, hyper-efficient air conditioners today, and you won't be able to any time in the next few years. But you can follow the news of these companies, as well as the Global Cooling Prize, which helps support new cooling technologies like these. And if you get a chance to invest in them or otherwise support their work, go for it. It'll help bring these technologies to market faster, and given how much the world needs them, it'll probably pay off in the long run.