Skip to 0 minutes and 9 seconds Fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas have been providing electricity, heat and transportation for us for the last 200 years. We also rely on them to make chemicals, plastics and many other materials. But this reliance has led to climate change and a host of other problems, such as plastic pollution. How can we make the things we need from the resources that won’t run out in a way that is better for the planet and create a sustainable environment for future generations? This is what the bioeconomy is all about. We can use living things, such as plants, animals and microbes
Skip to 0 minutes and 49 seconds to make not just food and feed, but also: energy, chemicals and materials.
Skip to 0 minutes and 55 seconds We can get more value from agri-tech and food wastes: for example, turning waste straw into biofuel or converting waste bread into antibiotics
Skip to 1 minute and 5 seconds We can use microbes to manage our waste: for example, using anaerobic digestion to produce biogas and biofertiliser. We can use plants and microbes to produce high value chemicals such as safer alternatives to toxic solvents and natural sources of flavours and fragrances. With the help of bioeconomy innovations such as these, we have plans to make York and North Yorkshire the nation’s first carbon negative region, transformed by profitable and sustainable technologies. Join us to learn all about the bioeconomy, the ideas and innovations that will shape the careers of the future and discuss the barriers that we need to be overcome in a transition from a fossil-based to a bio-based world.
