THE EDIT
Your monthly briefing on the journey to fossil freedom
Issue #27, The future of food production, October 2025
“Our starting point is, of course, to look for value chains in which fossil-free electricity can play an important role to improve the production process and thus reducing CO₂ emissions.” says Johan Westin, Senior Engineer at Vattenfall R&D. Photo: Solar Foods
Farming without harming – is food production ready for a change?
What to know: A new protein powered by fossil-free electricity has appeared “out of thin air”. Finnish company Solar Foods produces a protein powder called Solein by feeding microbes with captured CO₂ and hydrogen in a fermentation process, producing in a mild-tasting powder made up of 80 per cent protein.
Why it matters: Food production is responsible for around 30 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The potential to produce edible calories without using conventional farming methods opens up a radically different path forward. If electricity replaces fields, fertiliser and feed, emissions could drop dramatically.
Photo: Jennie Lind
How waste heat is feeding fish – circularity at its best
A pilot project is testing how to raise trout on fly larvae – farmed using surplus heat from a nearby data centre. The initiative is underway at Heden, Vattenfall’s largest compensation hatchery, which releases hundreds of thousands of trout and salmon each year. Instead of relying on traditional fishmeal pellets, often imported and made from overfished Baltic herring, the project uses larvae from the black soldier fly. The larvae are grown locally, using waste heat from a server hall powered by hydropower, and fed on food scraps.
Breaking down the footprint
From farm to fork, the food system accounts for 30 per cent of energy consumption (26,389 TWh/year) and the same share of global greenhouse gas emissions (16.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent). But most of this energy isn’t used in the fields. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, processing and distribution consume more energy than production itself. Fao.org.
Photo: Barbara Kieboom
Food and energy farmed side by side
Broad beans and beetroot are harvested from between rows of rotating, double-sided solar panels designed to follow the sun while leaving room for farm machinery. At Symbizon in the Netherlands, solar panels and farmland share the same ground. The pilot project brings together Vattenfall, HEMUS and Aeres University of Applied Sciences to explore how energy, biodiversity and food production can reinforce each other.
Helping cows burp and fart less – to reduce emissions
Photo: Adobe Stock
Cows are responsible for a large share of agriculture’s climate impact, mainly through methane released during digestion. Researchers in Sweden and Denmark are now testing whether seaweed could change that. Early studies show that certain red algae species mixed into feed can cut methane emissions from cows by more than half – from burps as well as manure.
News flash
3 x quick updates from the energy world
Black metal energy
By using a special black metal technology, scientists at the University of Rochester have enhanced heat absorption in a solar thermoelectric generator, enabling it to produce 15 times more energy than earlier versions (sciencedaily.com)
That’s so Meta
Meta’s planned data centres in Louisiana will be the tech giant’s largest to date. The project has stirred controversy, with questions raised about its reliance on natural gas generators. (techcrunch.com)
Petrol? No trucking way
No change is too small in the clean energy transformation. At a recent food truck event in the northern Californian city of Sacramento, all the chefs swapped traditional petrol generators for hydrogen fuel cells. (hoodline.com)
And finally …
The Formula Sun race
Twice a year, Australia hosts a competition that tests the power of solar energy. An impressive 34 solar-powered cars from 17 countries – including Germany, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Estonia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the US – compete in the World Solar Challenge. Teams from various universities and schools build the vehicles and attempt to drive from Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the south. The teams spend five or so days travelling as far as they can until 5 PM, covering a total distance of 3,000 kilometres across the heart of the Australian continent, much of it through harsh desert terrain, reports The Guardian.
