🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #129

Your now (bi-weekly) recap of all things positive climate news.

Happy Monday Tuesday. 👋

Welcome back to another episode of The Grumpy Optimists, your now bi-weekly newsletter recapping all things positive climate news to make you feel like there’s hope for our planet. With an increasing workload and a desire to not work 6 days a week as I have for the last three years, I have decided to make this newsletter every two weeks. I can’t be burning out before the world does. Let’s dig into it, shall we? 👇

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👀 Articles to read

⚡ Britain sets new energy records. In April, wind was the largest source of generation for the third consecutive month, providing 35.1% of electricity, with 59% coming from zero-carbon sources, peaking at 88% on 15 April. Britain achieved new low carbon records, with emissions dropping to 21gCO2/kWh on 5 April and further to 19gCO2/kWh on 15 April, when fossil fuel generation also fell to a record low of 2.4%.

🧱 LEGO Group ties bonuses for all employees to emission reduction goals. The LEGO Group will tie a portion of bonuses for all salaried employees to emissions reduction goals, starting this year, to support its climate targets. The new KPI measures carbon emissions under operational control, such as factories, stores, offices, and Scope 3 business travel.

What it does not include is 98% of the company’s emissions and the actual products they buy and sell. I can see why this is the case; supply chain data is very complex, and the emissions can change even if LEGO is progressing. However, this does nothing to stop LEGO from producing more and more plastic blocks from petroleum.

🏭 UK breakthrough could decarbonise cement. If cement was a country, it would be the third biggest source of emissions after China and the US, responsible for 7.5% of human-made CO2. Scientists from Cambridge University have come up with a method to recycle cement from demolished buildings, significantly reducing its carbon footprint by using electric-powered furnaces and renewable energy sources. The idea is currently just in the testing phase, but if scaled up, it could dramatically reduce emissions from the cement industry.

🧪 Ammonia, the basics. Coming off the back of Ben James’ deep dive into hydrogen, this week is all about Ammonia. In Ben’s words, ammonia is the biggest emitter in the chemical industry. Ammonia makes a terrible fuel. It’s just a more expensive form of hydrogen. And it’s toxic. Using ammonia for electricity generation is bullshit, in Europe and the US. But ammonia is easier to transport by ship than hydrogen. Because of this, Japan, Korea, and other energy-poor countries plan to import ammonia.

🐣 Plant-based meat is getting even more realistic. Gone are the days of eating soggy cardboard or stuffed peppers as the veggie alternative plant based-meat is getting even more realistic. That’s good news for the planet. UK brand THIS launching the first plant-based chicken thighs, featuring "skin" made from seaweed and a meat-like texture from soy and fava bean protein. It can’t just be me who thinks this looks incredibly realistic.

💐 Biodiversity wins big at the Chelsea Flower Show. The Size of Wales garden, featuring over 300 plant species, won a gold medal and was judged the best in its category at the Chelsea Flower Show. The garden includes 313 species of plants, reflecting the number of different types of trees that can occur in a single hectare of tropical forest.

🏠 The circular company turning doll houses into bookshelves. Think of how many millions of dollhouses and children’s toys are thrown away yearly. The mind boggles. Tiny Earth Toys, a company based in the US, is creating modular dollhouses that can be turned into products bookshelves to last a lifetime. I thought this was too cool not to share.

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That’s all for this week folks. This week was written after a great bank holiday weekend watching my team, Leeds United, lose another playoff final. Ah well. It was written to some great music and even better ginger tea.

For the planet,

George, the Grumpy Optimist 💚