Scientists are trying to cut down on carbon dioxide (CO2) one six-pack of beer at a time with a 400-litre bag of algae (yes, the slimy stuff) installed at a Sydney brewery to cut down on carbon emissions.
The bag at Newtown’s Young Henrys can produce as much oxygen as a hectare of Australian bush and is designed to offset the CO2 made from fermenting the beer – a single six-pack can make enough emissions for a tree to take two days to absorb.
Every few weeks, the researchers come in to replace the bag and add the algae organism which becomes increasingly green as it feeds on the CO2 (pictured).
“In sci-fi movies, where they’re growing an alien embryo in like a big test tube – it kind of looks like that,” head brewer Jesse Searls told the ABC.
It’s not the first time that scientists have got creative to help come up with climate change solutions.
Our Kiwi counterparts developed a sheep to burp and fart less – producing less methane – back in 2018.
The brewery hopes it will eventually become carbon neutral while the research team has its eyes on a bigger prize – using carbon emissions to create food, pharmaceuticals and even bioplastic.
Looks like we could soon be cracking a ‘green’ one instead of a cold one.
