Bill Gates-Backed Startup Produces Animal-Free Butter from Thin Air
Bill Gates, a California-based startup, claims that it will produce animal-free butter, which will be made out of carbon and taste as good as real butter. Savour claims that they have figured out the complex way in which carbon dioxide can be converted into real fat.
Bill Gates, a California-based startup claims that it will produce butter out of carbon dioxide
A Bill Gates-backed startup produces animal-free butter from Thin Air, which will be made out of carbon and taste as good as real butter. Savour claims that they have figured out the complex way in which carbon dioxide can be converted into real fat.
In this process, it will eliminate the use of animals ‘without animal suffering’ and make butter without farmland, fertilizers, hormones, or antibiotics, the startup claims.
A thermochemical process will be used to create animal-like fat and claims to carry all flavours of butter made in dairy.
The startup explains on its website: “We start with a source of carbon, like carbon dioxide, and use a little bit of heat and hydrogen to form chains, which are then blended with oxygen from the air to make the fats & oils we know, love, and drool over.
Savor explained, “That’s how we get rich, delightful ingredients without animal suffering, palm plantations, or dangerous chemicals. All in the most efficient, most resilient, least polluting way known to science,”
Savor's chief executive, Kathleen Alexander said: "We are currently pre-commercial and working through regulatory approval to be able to sell our butter. We are not expecting to be able to move forward with any kind of sales until at least 2025. So far, we had informal taste panels with tens of people. We expect to perform a more formal panel as part of our commercialisation and scale-up efforts."
The product will have a lower carbon footprint than animal-based ones because the major source of greenhouse gases is livestock.
Bill Gates explained, “Each year, the world emits 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases, and the production of fats and oils from animals and plants makes up seven per cent of that. To combat climate change, we need to get the number to zero,” in a blog post.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, explained that the creation of Savor’s process, as greenhouse gases, is not released by taking carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water without using any farmland and only making use of a minuscule fraction of the water that was used in traditional agriculture.
“I’ve tasted Savor’s products, and I couldn’t believe I wasn’t eating real butter,” he wrote.
Original dairy butter has a carbon footprint of 16.9 kg CO2, which is equal to per kg, while the butter created by Savor has a carbon footprint of less than 0.8 g CO2, which is equal to per kg, and promotes the benefits of an environment from this innovative solution to dairy-free butter production, as reported by The Guardian.
Commercially, butter is available now because the startup is working on acquiring regulatory approval. Savor CEO Kathleen Alexander said, “We are not expecting to be able to move forward with any kind of sales until at least 2025,” as quoted by The Guardian.
Backing this idea in his blog post, Bill Gates wrote: "It might sound like a pipe dream, but a company called Savor (which I'm invested in) is in the process of doing it. They started with the fact that all fats are made of varying chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms."
"Then they set out to make those same carbon and hydrogen chains without involving animals or plants. They ultimately developed a process that involves taking carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water, heating them up, and oxidizing them to trigger the separation of fatty acids and then the formulation of fat. The result is real fat molecules like the ones we get from milk, cheese, and vegetable oils."
The idea of switching to lab-made fats and oils may seem strange at first. But their potential to significantly reduce our carbon footprint is immense. By harnessing proven technologies and processes, we get one step closer to achieving our climate goals," he added.
Also Read: Deepika Padukone Debunks Diet Myths: How She Enjoys Food And Stays Fit
For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest World News on The National Bulletin