Finnish Innovation Transforms Global Dining (Food from Electricity and Air Image)

Could our future meals originate from electricity and air? This intriguing concept has become a reality thanks to a Finnish startup.

Recently, Solar Foods in Vantaa, near Helsinki, inaugurated its first facility dedicated to producing food from air and solar energy.

The site is set to produce 160 tonnes of food annually, a development that could significantly reduce the environmental footprint of traditional farming.

The innovative product at the heart of this venture is solein, a protein-rich powder made from single-cell organisms. These are cultivated using renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which then feed the microbes.

Carbon dioxide is also sourced from the company’s office ventilation system, making the process highly sustainable. Solein is expected to diversify culinary applications, from meat alternatives to dairy products.

In terms of the global food industry, the factory’s output may be small, but one of the company’s main aims right now is to prove that the technology works, which would be a huge leap in transforming food production methods.

The small footprint of Solar Foods’ facility contrasts sharply with conventional agriculture’s space requirements.

The environmental benefits of this technology are profound. Traditional agricultural practices, responsible for about a quarter of all global carbon emissions, could see a significant reduction as land previously used for farming could be rewilded, which in turn would trap carbon.

Despite potential market challenges, the co-founder and CEO of Solar Foods, Pasi Vainikka, remains optimistic about the integration of solein into the global food market, anticipating approval in the US towards the end of this year and the EU by the end of 2025, including the UK.

He envisions a harmonious coexistence of traditional farming and innovative food technology, presenting it as a century-defining opportunity for the meat industry.

Despite resistance from some politicians in Italy and the US, who assert that lab-grown food is a threat to traditional agriculture, Vainikka advocates the coexistence of new and old.

He assures sceptics that both meat and plant farming can continue to exist with the focus on quality over quantity.

Good exposition of all the problems. Is there a solution besides cutting global population in half? Bugs and Soylent Green?

The history of tech development is that, when new solutions are found, population quickly grows to consume those new solutions. I’m reminded of the time in the 60s that the I-270 interstate “circumferential” was built around St. Louis. The planners thought that growth wouldn’t catch up for 30 or 40 years. I caught and surpassed projections in a few years.

I just love Doomers, the dystopian future that they see is such a hoot. It’s like Mad Max with 1984 for flavor.

You do know that 6 billion people live with chronic protein deficiency? And that having a highly efficient process that doesn’t need arable land for complete protein production from literally thin air and salty water is a huge blessing right...RIGHT?

I’m sure a hungry African is not worried about his social score when they offer him a protein bar or protein shake or high protein bread on an empty stomach. Same for rural India or Latin America. Where bad soils and years of poor agricultural practices have depleted the soils productivity. Having a process that can take power from any source it doesn’t have to be solar use nukes or hydro or wind to make proteins, there are similar process for lipids and carbohydrates also from thin air and you have complete nutrition for any monogastric of which humans are in that group. You could just as easily feed chickens,turkeys,emus, pigs,fish, shrimp, crabs,lobsters,any of the snails,abalone, anything that doesn’t have four stomachs, or a hind gut like a horse or rabbits. This process miles kibble for anything yes including human kibble. Fish turn one kg of kibble into nearly one kg of fish. Chickens are 2:1 pigs 4:1 cattle is 10+:1 so for small livestock the loss of 50% when the process is 18 times more efficient per square meter into food is acceptable losses I doubt human kibble will be used anywhere other than the most dire of food scarcity places think Somalia or Sudan or rural India.

“Good exposition of all the problems. Is there a solution besides cutting global population in half? Bugs and Soylent Green?”

Population in half try 1/8th this planet has the resources to support one billion at European middle class level of consumption. Using all the arable land and mineral resources recoverable at any price via technical means. Even then the mineral resources run out in a century or so. Make no mistake this planet is vastly over populated that’s just cold hard math. Humans are doing our best to invent and tech our way out of this fundamental problem. Having process to use power to make huge amounts of food is a step in the right direction. Having tech to make freshwater from the oceans also needed.

You can tell who the world travelers are by those who recognize that the rest of the planet doesn’t and cannot live the way the USA or even Western Europe lives there simply is not enough resources for that. People who are well traveled have seen this truth first hand. It’s not a political problem it’s a resource management issue. If the rest of the 6+ billion suddenly got free capitalism in spades and started to mine,drill, and burn everything they could get their hands on the resources go in a couple of decades then a huge crash and mass die off billions die all at once not to mention the nuclear resource wars in the process of collapse.

There needs to be a controlled step down of population a global two child policy would do it in two generations. The West already has a less than 2 reproductive rate voluntarily so no mandate needed at all in the West.

Humans need to move as rapidly as possible to energy sources that will never run out. Nuclear fast reactors or ocean uranium, solar energy everywhere on everything especially the deserts. Wind up north where class 5+ area’s cover continent sized land and ocean masses. Biomass for the things you can’t electrify like airplanes,ships(use nukes),trains out West.

We have been blessed with liquid hydrocarbons we as a species should use them to bootstrap to forever energy. Burn coal once to the sky? Or burn it to make concrete for a nuclear plant that lasts 80 years and has a 1000 to one EROI so burn a tonne of coal once or get 1000 times its energy value back using it to make a reactor. Same for natural gas which is more valuable as fertilizers. Burn it once or make silicon cells with it that return 100 times over their lifespan EROI, modern panels also are recyclable. Mine once use many. Same for wind power, burn coal and gas once and it’s gone or make concrete, polymers and steel with a 40 to one or more EROI.

My family in South Texas went regenerative cattle ranching years ago the cows do a fine job of turning scrub brush into grasslands if you help tham along with some biochar mixed into the manure piles and shallow turn the earth over. The biochar is sourced on site via the honey mesquite infestations burn those suckers in oxygen deficiency piles you get tonnes of black char to spread everywhere. Leave the paddle cactus those are good for water retention and in a pinch you use propane burners to sear the spines off and cows love paddle cactus pads they will wipe out a patch of burned off spines in a day or less.

I’m not worried about eating human kibble I still don’t buy store beef I just take the truck to South Texas with huge RTIC coolers and come home with 1/2 steer. I got tired of messing with chickens so those go deep fried and the coup sold. Frick and Frack the Nubian goats keep the weeds down now where that coup used to live. If in a bind Nubian’s are a dual purpose breed they are milked now could be cabrito if needed I guess.

“I’m reminded of the time in the 60s that the I-270 interstate “circumferential” was built around St. Louis. The planners thought that growth wouldn’t catch up for 30 or 40 years. I caught and surpassed projections in a few years.”

This is the very reason why building more roads only works to a limit. Then as population grows you need to move to higher density transit modes such as subways,light rails, express busses. Uber and robotaxis won’t help the vehicle over crowding issue. Another way is time of use pricing and distance pricing both of which are used in DFW via dedicated managed lanes the price goes up way up during peak hours bit it’s never zero. Used to be EVs got free access to managed lanes but that ended years ago once Tesla flooded the market with EVs. Remote work helped for a while until people were forced back into the office and thus back on the roads commuting. I’m all for tolling everything to reduce the number of cars on the roads especially during peak hours. It is the most effective way to reduce congestion. all the major world cities do this. NYC just started but London and all the Asian megacities have for years charged to drive in them. It works London used to be a gridlocked nightmare now it’s somewhat tolerable still not good but at least not 3 hours to go 5km anymore.

You have never been to sub/Saharan Africa or rural India. There are plenty of places where food is not plentiful and the soil it’s terrible or lack of water , pesticides or fertilizers makes growing crops nearly impossible. Taking the land use and more importantly the quality of land needed to produce complete protein is a huge achievement. The Sahara could feed tens of billions of people with technology like this. Use saltwater as your water supply and the air as your carbon source there is so much sun in the day at less than 3% of its land area would power all 8 billion of us at European middle class levels. That is mathematically impossible with fossil fuels for any period longer than 25 years using every technically recoverable resource not reserve at any price.

The Sahara alone could feed 10+ billion and power them at middle class levels only nuclear power can do the same and it would take 6000+ gigawatt sized units of the fast spectrum type otherwise you burn through all the uranium resources in a couple decades. It’s a human population numbers problem at it’s core.

I am a real scientist in multiple disciplines over a 20+ year career in engineering and sciences. Unlike politicians I am doing my very best to make this planet better for future generations by the work being done today. So the younger scientists and engineers can stand on our shoulders like we did 20 years ago entering the field.

This planet is over populated no legitimate scientist will deny that. The path forward is both technical and demographics both need to work or a nasty crash and world war is inevitable. When you have nearly 4 billion people in two counties that can field 100 million man strong army’s there is no way the West could win a conventional global war over resources it’s strategically impossible. They could lose 50 million man in war and not affect their base society. The USA nor the EU could even field a 100 million man strong force and losing 50 million in either region would collapse society. Demographics wins every time in the long run. So we have as a species a choice and responsibility to ensure that resources in limited supply are used in the best way possible. Burning like drunken sailors everything to the sky and not using those blessings from God himself to build out a society for all humans not just the 10% who currently use 80% of all planetary resources. It’s immoral and a sin to do so. We as a species have the technology to use those blessings and multiply them by 1000+ times their energy values than just single use for profits and easy lifestyles while making sure we leave enough for our grand children’s use as well.

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