Bite-Size Climate Tech

Alex Ivanenko is back on Bite-Size Climate Tech. He first joined the show in Season 2 to talk about HyWatts and hydrogen reversible fuel cells. This time, he returns with a new company, The Lithium Company, and a new idea: LIRA, the Lithium Inventory Refill Agent. The simplest version? A protein shake for batteries. In this conversation, Alex explains why some lithium-ion batteries may not be stru...

Algae already make oil. The hard part is getting them to share it. In this episode of Bite-Size Climate Tech, Lydia speaks with Ian Hu, CTO and co-founder of Phycobloom, a synthetic biology company engineering microalgae to release oil while staying alive. Ian explains why crude oil originally came from ancient photosynthetic life, why traditional algae oil production was so energy-intensive, and...

At Innovation Zero, I spoke with Kaly from Arborea about BioSolar Leaf, a cultivation platform that uses carbon dioxide, sunlight, and microalgae to create food ingredients. What made this episode especially memorable for me is that Arborea’s story unexpectedly connected to one of my own London memories. When I first moved to London 5 years ago, I remember seeing Arborea’s beautiful bionic chandel...

What happens to an EV battery after it stops powering a car? In the opening episode of Bite-Size Climate Tech Season 5, Lydia speaks with Guillermo Garcia, President and CEO of Samsar Resources, about battery circularity, reuse, and the company’s NthLife™ approach. Samsar designs, inspects, and repurposes batteries so they can keep creating value across new applications instead of being discarded...

Season 5 of Bite-Size Climate Tech is almost here. This time, we’re going from lab to market. Because climate tech is not just about brilliant science. It is about building solutions people can understand, trust, fund, buy, and scale. Or, as CLI would put it:Climate tech is just good business. Episode 1 lands Monday. Bite-Size Climate Tech makes complex climate solutions simple, human, and engagin...

In this Bite‑Size Climate Tech finale, Dr Anna de Vries takes us from lab bench to lemonade stand to explain how photoacids could make carbon capture cheaper and greener. Traditional systems use heat or electricity to release CO₂, but Anna’s solution uses light‑reactive molecules that switch from alkaline to acidic under sunlight. In darkness they flip back, allowing CO₂ to be captured again. This...

Dr. Liz Dennett , founder and CEO of Endolith joins Lydia to unpack why copper remains indispensable, how ore grades have plummeted over the last century, and how her company uses AI‑guided microbes to unlock metals others leave behind. From hydrometallurgy to monster cookies, this episode delivers science, storytelling and hope. Stay tuned until the end for Liz’s one‑sentence vision for a climate...

Cows are upcyclers, turning grass into milk and meat—but their digestion also wastes up to 10 % of feed energy as methane. Methane has a global warming potential ~28–80× higher than CO₂. Our guest, Tom Williams (CEO & co‑founder of Number 8 Bio), explains how his team screened thousands of compounds to create BetterFeed™ , a small organic molecule delivered in a slow‑release bolus . Once in th...

What if cleaning CO₂ from the atmosphere could be as efficient as charging a battery? In this bite-sized episode, we dive into a breakthrough that does exactly that. We're talking with  Dr. Silvia Pugliese , co-founder and CTO of  Norma , about her company's revolutionary approach to Direct Air Capture (DAC). Forget energy-intensive, massive plants. Norma is using  supercapacitors —the same tech t...

This might be our most unexpected story yet — where science meets art . Lydia meets Billie Ireland , an ecological artist using biochar — carbon made from organic material heated without oxygen — to create striking paper and rose sculptures. Hear how the same process that locks carbon underground can create beauty above it, why pyrolysis doesn’t burn, and what this says about life, death, and tran...

In this episode of Bite-Size Climate Tech , I sit down with Dr. Grace Andrews to explore Ocean Soup — the idea that adding minerals to the ocean is like adding ingredients to a recipe. Done right, it raises alkalinity, pulls CO₂ from the air back into the sea, and keeps our climate in balance. Done wrong… it’s like adding too much salt. Grace explains: 🌊 Ocean alkalinity enhancement and “the reci...

Lucie Semenec (New Era Bio) shares how microbes can brew fossil-free dyes — scaling colour production that’s fast, eco-friendly, and full of imagination. She explains it for adults, and then “for an 8-year-old”: little invisible friends making colours, just like in Inside Out . A short but hopeful conversation about curiosity, science, and why the answers to big problems are often hidden in the sm...

In this short and fun episode, I speak with Noamaan Siddiqi, CEO & CTO of Bristol Superlight , about two key concepts powering electric trucks: Tune in for a playful yet insightful look at how trucks are learning to see, decide and drive — and why that matters for the future of climate tech. Perception systems (like a video game map of the world around the truck). Drive-by-wire (like pushing t...

If your friend swam into an underwater cave to find Nemo 🐠, could you still talk to them? With the tech behind Ocean Information Services (OIS) , you could. In this episode, founder & CEO Brendan Hyland explains how OIS’s AIIS (Artificial Intelligence Information Services) platform uses advanced magnetic wave communication—similar in principle to the NFC in your smartphone—to transfer data te...

Note: Recorded on 6 May 2025 while Phil was Chief Science & Commercial Officer at Deep Sky. He has since left the company. Phil unpacks how injecting CO₂ into reactive rock locks it away forever, what it takes to fund this at billion-dollar scale. In this bite-size episode we dive into in-situ mineralization—the “Medusa move” that turns captured CO₂ into rock right underground. Stick around fo...

EU regulations are changing—synthetic absorbent polymers will be banned in soils from 2028. What’s next? Enter A&B Smart Materials , pioneers of biodegradable, bio-based SAPs. In this episode from Innovation Zero, Amaury van Trappen de Buggenoms showcases SAPs’ powerful ability to absorb water like thirsty dinosaurs, forming a sustainable jelly that boosts soil resilience and eliminates harmfu...

🚀 Welcome to Season 4! In our opening episode, physicist-turned-oceanographer **Allan Adams** (Founder & CEO, Aquatic Labs) explains how ultra-low-power “sensor fusion” platforms can watch seawater chemistry in real time—unlocking scalable, verifiable ocean carbon-removal.🌐 **Guest links** • Aquatic Labs – https://www.aquatic-labs.com/• Allan on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/allan-a...

Help us make climate tech fun, accessible, and hopeful—one bite-sized episode at a time.👉 Back Our Kickstarter Here: http://kck.st/43numngHi, I’m Lydia—host of Bite-Size Climate Tech, the podcast breaking down climate solutions into 5-minute stories for curious minds (and 8-year-olds!).Why This Campaign Matters:✅ Season 4 will feature animated shorts, global stories, and YOUR voice in our new Op...

In this episode of Bite-Size Climate Tech , we dive into the world of pH Swing Carbon Capture with Deóis Ua Cearnaigh, CTO of Aeon Blue . This clever process uses acidity shifts to absorb and later release CO₂ from seawater , making it a promising tool for scaling marine carbon removal . But let’s make it simple: imagine baking bread . Just like you need both sour (yogurt) and bitter (baking soda)...

In this episode, I chat with Elliot Chang, Head of Partnerships at Lithos , about how Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) captures carbon and how researchers measure its success over time. 🔍 What’s the treasure hunt of CO₂ tracking? 🌱 How do soil samples tell a carbon story? 🕵️‍♂️ What’s the role of “sticky elements” in tracking CO₂ movement? Elliot breaks down how MRV (Measurement, Reporting & V...

In this episode of Bite-Size Climate Tech , Chris Graves, CEO and Co-founder of Noon Energy , shares how their groundbreaking carbon-based energy storage technology is transforming renewable energy storage. Inspired by NASA’s Mars missions, Noon Energy’s solution could revolutionize how we store intermittent energy and help us achieve a carbon-neutral world . 🔍 What’s inside: The science behind N...

🚗 In this episode of Bite-Size Climate Tech , Marco Möller, Co-founder and CEO of PIONIX , explains how their open-source software, is making EV charging smarter, more accessible, and reliable. 🌍 Their product acts as a universal translator between EVs and charging stations, ensuring seamless compatibility across all platforms. Marco also discusses the importance of open-source solutions in stan...

In this episode, Marc Hernandez Folguera, Co-founder and CTO of Planboo, shares how their IoT-enabled digital MRV system ensures automated, precise tracking for biochar projects. Using a fun analogy of toy cars signaling a garage to open, Marc explains how IoT technology is paving the way for scalable carbon removal. learn more about Planboo: https://planboo.eco/ #CarbonRemoval #Biochar #IoT #dMRV...

What if we could replace fossil-based products with sustainable green alternatives? In this episode of Bite-Size Climate Tech, I’m joined by Koji Muto, Co-founder and CEO of Ki Hydrogen, to explore the concept of green molecules. Using LEGO as an analogy, Koji breaks down how many of the products we use today are made from long chains of hydrocarbons derived from fossil fuels—and how we can transi...

In this live episode from the  Season 3 Launch Event  at Minc in Malmö, Saurabh Tak returns to  Bite-Size Climate Tech  to explain  nature co-design . Using the dazzling example of butterfly wings, he shares how materials and processes can be inspired by nature’s brilliance to create sustainable innovations. 🌱✨ #NatureCoDesign #ClimateTech #LiveRecording #Sustainability #DeepTech Learn More abou...