Bill Gates-backed California startup Savor says the product has a smaller carbon footprint because it doesn’t need cows
Savor, a startup backed by billionaire Bill Gates, is experimenting with making dairy-free alternatives to ice cream, cheese and milk using a thermochemical process that allows the formation of fat molecules and making their chains from carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen.
Now the company has announced that it has created a new alternative to butter that tastes the same.
Reducing the consumption of meat and dairy products is one of the key ways that humanity can reduce the negative impact on the environment, since animal husbandry is one of the most important sources of gases with a green garden effect.
Savor states that their products can significantly reduce the carbon footprint compared to animal products.
Making their butter releases 0.8 grams per kilogram of butter into the atmosphere, while producing original dairy unsalted butter with 80 percent fat releases 16.9 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of butter.
The executive director of Savor Katlin Aleksandar said that they are currently in the pre-commercial phase and are working on obtaining permits so that they can sell their butter.
“We don’t expect to be able to start any wider sales until at least 2025,” says the executive director.
Alternatives to meat and dairy products have become increasingly popular in recent years, but the biggest problem for many is taste.
“So far we’ve had informal taster panels with dozens of people. As part of the commercialization, we expect to carry out more massive formal tasting tests,” Katlin Aleksandar points out.
The main question is whether customers will want to give up their habits and switch to synthetic fats. It is a big challenge to get people to give up their favorite dairy products for the sake of experimental food.
In his blog, Bill Gates states that the idea of switching to lab-made fats and oils is strange at first.
“The potential of that transition, however, in reducing our carbon footprint is enormous. Using proven technologies and processes we can achieve this. The new process does not release gases with the greenhouse effect, does not use agricultural land, and water consumption is a thousand times less than traditional animal husbandry. Most importantly, it tastes great, like the real thing,” Gates points out.
According to UN data, animal husbandry generates 14.5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Source: RTS, Guardian
Photo: Pixabay
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