We have a lot of blindspots that prevent us from solving climate change, and this… this is a big one. Coal is a battery. A single piece of coal can store solar energy for 300 million years. Solar and wind can't store energy at all. That means they can't replace fossil fuels without a compatible storage capacity. While we've spent the last few decades building up wind and solar, we're lagging far behind on energy storage. Even worse, we keep saying "Solar is cheaper than coal" which is only half right. When you add in the energy storage to get us through the peak daytime hours and the low production nights, that cost adds up. We're a lot further from replacing fossil fuels than we believe, but we already have the solution.

Pumped hydro is our simplest energy storage option. It's CAPEX isn't cheap, but the OPEX is far better than fossil fuels. And when that battery is full, excess energy can be used to make hydrogen, methanol, and ammonia to fuel the rest of the energy transition.

I’m excited to present our guests today, Michael Myer, Executive Chairman, and Chris Baker, CTO, from Sunshine Hydro in Queensland, Australia. They’ve found innovative ways to create 24/7 renewable energy using pumped hydro and methanol.

For more on Sunshine Hydro, visit their website: sunshinehydro.com

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Drop us a line on replaceremoverecover@gmail.com

Music in this episode provided by Artlist.io

Theme Song - The Best Thing by Paper Planes
00:38 - Busy Day Ahead by MooveKa
01:59 - Naos by Yotam Agam
10:12 - Silhouettes by Muted
13:37 - Always Hope by Tennessee Pistols
27:56 - Capriole by ANBR

Sound Effects by Pixabay:
Striking Match, Match Sizzle 02, Power Down, and Turning Down Power Sound Effects by Pixabay
Singing of birds and the sound of the stream. Sounds of nature. Sound Effect by Maksym Dudchyk on Pixabay
Happy Memories Sound Effect by Samuel F. Johanns on Pixabay

This episode is exciting for me personally because it introduces two concepts that are, in my opinion, the largest solutions to climate change. The first is cellular production, bioreactors, and farm-free meat. The second reason I’m excited is because our guest today, Dr. Falconer, discovered a shortcut to solving climate change... with cat food. That's right. And we’re counting on it sounding ridiculous and flying under the radar. It turns out the simple act of producing farm-free cat food in a bioreactor might solve all of the world's meat and agriculture problems at once. Listen and see how soon you can spot what makes it possible.

Imagine a future where we grow our meat and vegetables at a cellular level inside compact facilities powered by renewable energy. The meat is clean and healthy with no herbicides, pesticides, PFAS or antibiotics. It is tailored to maximize the amount of nutrition our biology and evolution requires.

Because this food is no longer grown on-farm, it is produced in cities and towns next to the people it feeds where almost anyone, anywhere can make it, meaning no one goes hungry.
But the best part of this future is outside. Half of the earth’s land surface returns to nature, rewilded, where ecosystems recover. Forests grow from abandoned pastures, pulling carbon out of the atmosphere to build themselves. The animals and birds return to the forests. And humans, well fed and healthy, play with their cats, laughing as they remember that this was all thanks to cat food.

You can read more by visiting:
Biocraft
Captain Furface and the Giant Broink by James. M. Ellis

Thanks for listening! If you liked this episode, please tell your friends. Hit the like button wherever you heard this so you'll know when the next one comes out. And if you missed any of the episodes, they're waiting for you. Stay optimistic about climate change. Together, we will do this.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Drop us a line on replaceremoverecover@gmail.com

Music in this episode provided by Artlist.io

Theme Song - "The Best Thing" by Paper Planes
00:28 - "A Winter Migration" by Ardie Son
12:24 and 13:15 - "Forged in Combat" by Idan Kupferberg
18:07 and 19:48 - "Mouse Trap" by Elad Perez
24:10 - "The Motions Reprise" by Diffie Bozman

Sound Effects by Pixabay:
“Laser Shot Ingame” Sound Effect by Ribhav Agrawal
“Crockery” SFX by Sound Effect from Pixabay
“Ladder Drop” SFX by Sound Effect from Pixabay
“Machine Powering Down” SFX by Sound Effect from Pixabay
“Power Down” SFX by Sound Effect from Pixabay

The journal Nature receives 10,000 scientific papers every year, but in 2023 they picked just five as the technologies most likely to make an impact on society. Jupiter Ionics was one of them. Specializing in making ammonia from electrolysis instead of fossil fuels, it is poised to revolutionize not only agriculture but our energy and transportation sectors as well. It is our pleasure to have Douglas MacFarlane, founder of Jupiter Ionics, as our guest.

Hopefully you've just listened to Episode 9 so you've you got a pretty good picture of how we arrived at the predicament we're in, how we've been supplementing agriculture with artificial nutrients for over 200 years and how ammonia is essential to feeding eight billion people. All of that hinges on the continued production of large global quantities of ammonia. So now you're ready for solutions, and Jupiter Ionics is one of them.

You can read more by visiting:
Jupiter Ionics
A Roadmap to the Ammonia Economy

Thanks for listening! If you liked this episode, please tell your friends. Hit the like button wherever you heard this so you'll know when the next one comes out. And if you missed any of the episodes, they're waiting for you. Stay optimistic about climate change. Together, we will do this.

Music in this episode provided by Artlist.io

Theme Song - "The Best Thing" by Paper Planes
00:00 and 00:54 - "Milk Steak" by DoGBeaT
07:13 - "The Long Ride Home" by Kashido
13:05 - "Mangrove" by Low Light
08:17 - "Lost Are We" by Alon Peretz
15:32 - "Ocean Sunrise" by Kevin P. Holt
19:14 - "Ten Lost Years" by Yehezkel Raz
20:56 - "Shimmer" by Adrien de la Salle

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Drop us a line on replaceremoverecover@gmail.com