Sustainability — what an important concept it has become, hasn’t it? Not long ago, it was outside the interest of many people, yet now it is an inseparable part of daily life. Most of us make an effort to live sustainably, structuring our daily actions in ways that protect our planet.

In this context, there is a lot of research and study going on. Scientists are focusing their efforts on sustainable solutions.

For example, let’s say you want to live in a sustainable home. But you are disturbed by the fact that the production of building materials such as cement and ceramics generates high carbon emissions. As we wrote in this column before, there are initiatives that build houses from mud bricks, meet their energy needs with solar panels, collect rainwater, and grow the agricultural products they need in their gardens. The example we gave — and made the subject of a column — was from abroad, but similar ones are now increasingly seen in our own country as well.

Research aimed at making existing buildings more sustainable is also yielding various developments.

In France, a company is using paint made from waste oyster shells to keep homes and workplaces up to 7 degrees cooler. The paint lasts about 20 years and offers a cheap, sustainable alternative to air conditioning in hot climates.

Additionally, Panasonic is testing “energy-generating glass,” which it expects to start selling by 2028 for use in a wide range of buildings. Perovskite solar cells generate electricity with a photovoltaic layer only one micron thick, sandwiched between two glass substrates. In the production process, Panasonic uses a combination of its “original inkjet coating method” and lasers.

Let’s say you leave home to go to work. You don’t use a car. You get on your electric bicycle. But its lithium battery has been on your mind for a while — it’s not exactly eco-friendly, after all. Here’s the solution: the battery-free electric bicycles of French startup Pi-POP. Pi-POP uses a supercapacitor instead of a battery to store electricity. The technology focuses on energy regeneration; the power stored in the supercapacitors is replenished while pedaling, going downhill, or braking. This means that users can get electric assistance while riding, without the need for a battery.

You come home in the evening, and you feel like having ice cream. You’re tired and don’t have the energy to go out. But when you use home delivery services, motor couriers cause some level of greenhouse gas emissions. And then there’s the problem of methane emissions from cows. As you know, ice cream is made from milk… When cows eat, their stomachs ferment plant material into a digestible form. The process results in cows belching methane. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps more heat in the Earth’s atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Now go ahead and place that order.

Go on, go ahead… Don’t hesitate.

Yemek Sepeti has launched a pedestrian courier service. This initiative is both environmentally friendly and has the potential to help address unemployment.

In addition, scientists and entrepreneurs have developed a garlic and citrus blend that does not affect the yield or taste of milk but can reduce methane emissions from dairy cows by up to 38%. These scientists are from the Swiss-British agricultural technology company Mootral. To promote its method to consumers, Mootral recently partnered with London ice cream shop Ruby Violet to create Maxi-Mootral — “the world’s first climate-friendly ice cream.” In August, 100 customers were treated to free Maxi-Mootral at Ruby Violet’s King’s Cross parlour. The ice cream was made from milk sourced from Brades Farm, where cows were fed Mootral pellets to reduce methane emissions…

You see, don’t you? There are many initiatives in every field, and they are growing and delivering results at an incredible pace.

A sustainable future may be much closer than we think.

Until the next article, stay healthy…

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