Transforming Carbon Emissions
A panel that featured creative ways to capture carbon dioxide emissions and transform them into usable products opened eyes. One bottle of Air Co. vodka ($65) made in Brooklyn, N.Y., soaks up as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as eight fully grown trees—about a pound. The company says its use of solar power in its carbon capture machines makes Air Co. the world’s first carbon-negative distillery. The company is a finalist for the NRG Cosia Carbon Xprize of $20 million, explained Nikki Batchelor, the prize’s director of operations and impact.
In other efforts, Bordeaux château Smith Haut Lafitte is capturing the CO2 released into the atmosphere during fermentation and turning it into baking soda used in its Michelin-starred restaurant.
Adapting Isn’t an Option
“For a time, warming had a positive effect in Bordeaux, but now it will have a negative impact” Photographer: Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg
“Escalating temperatures are simply the new normal,” warned Angel Hsu, a professor of environmental studies at Yale-National University in Singapore. Climate data is figured on a global average, and warming will be much worse in some wine regions.
“For a time, warming had a positive effect in Bordeaux, but now it will have a negative impact,” explained Kees van Leeuwen, a professor of viticulture in Bordeaux. “Wines have higher levels of alcohol, and aromas are turning from fresh to cooked fruit. We taste climate change with every glass.”
Like many wine scientists, he’s been exploring ways to adapt by modifying vineyard techniques and exploiting the diversity of wine grapes, swapping familiar varieties for hardier ones. At the VitAdapt project at the Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin (ISVV) near Bordeaux, his team planted 52 varieties, such as tinta cao (from Portugal) and assyrtiko (Greece), in a one-hectare experimental vineyard to determine which are tough enough to withstand drought, soaring temperatures, and new diseases while remaining appealing to drink.
Saving Water Is Essential
Grapevines require less water than many crops, but water is scarce in some wine regions, and things will get worse, warned Hervé Birnie-Scott, estate director at Terrazas de los Andes and Cheval des Andes in Argentina. In Mendoza, snowmelt from glaciers in the Andes feeds streams that water the vines; with glaciers shrinking, river flow is half what it was 20 years ago. “In the future, we may have to abandon vineyards and wineries in historical areas where water is scarce,” he said.
Israel was the pioneer of drip irrigation, a way to save water by allowing it to drip slowly to the roots of the plants, explained Naty Barak, director of sustainability at Orbia, a Mexico City-based company that includes a unit specializing in precision agriculture that originated in Israel. Digital monitors and sensors will allow even less water to be used, and reusing wastewater will be common. Fetzer Vineyards in Mendocino, Calif., is trialing a Chilean invention named BioFiltro, a process of spraying wastewater into giant bins filled with earthworms that clean water in four hours.
As Schaus said in his introduction to the forum: “Everything has to change, so nothing changes.”
Let’s help it along, wine lovers.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.