One firm, referred to as Stegra, is near beginning up the world’s first business inexperienced metal plant, which can make the steel utilizing hydrogen from renewable sources. (You would possibly know this firm by its former identify, H2 Inexperienced Metal, as we included it on our 2023 checklist of Local weather Tech Corporations to Watch.)
After I first began following Stegra just a few years in the past, its plans for a large inexperienced metal plant felt extremely far-off. Now the corporate says it’s on monitor to provide metal on the manufacturing unit by subsequent yr.
The largest problem on this house is cash. Constructing new metal crops is dear—Stegra has raised nearly $7 billion. And the corporate’s product shall be costlier than standard materials, so it’ll want to seek out clients prepared to pay up (thus far, it has).
There are different efforts to scrub up metal that may all face related challenges round cash, together with one other play in Sweden referred to as Hybrit and startups like Boston Steel and Electra, which use totally different processes. Learn extra about inexperienced metal, and the potential obstacles it faces as we enter a brand new part of commercialization, in this quick blurb and on this longer characteristic about Stegra.
Cow burp cures
People love burgers and steaks and milk and cheese, so we increase an entire bunch of cows. The issue is, these animals are amongst a bunch with a cool digestion course of that produces an entire lot of methane (a robust greenhouse gasoline). A rising variety of firms are attempting to develop cures that assist lower down on their methane emissions.