At 38%, the construction industry is responsible for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions. As the demand for housing increases, sustainable building materials are urgently needed to avoid further burdening the environment and climate. Researchers at the University of Göttingen have found an ecological alternative for dry construction with a new process that can be used to manufacture numerous products from hemp, flax and popcorn granules.

Palm oil is one of the most versatile and sought-after vegetable oils: it is found in many foods such as ice cream, chocolate and potato chips, and is also used in the production of cosmetics and biodiesel. Yet palm oil cultivation in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia has economic, social and also environmental consequences, and has therefore long been controversial. A research consortium is now working on a domestic alternative to palm oil. The NextVegOil project focuses on developing a process for producing a microbial oil based on agricultural residues.

Almost every second bicycle sold in Germany in 2021 was a pedelec. As in the previous year, this represents an increase of around two million. The battery is an essential component of such electric bicycles - and at the same time a significant weight factor. With financial support from the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability (LBF) and Ansmann AG, a German manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, have now developed a bio-based lightweight alternative.

Plants need not only sunlight but also water from the soil to grow. However, the past three years of heat and drought have upset this necessary balance. The consequences are already manifold: in addition to crop failures, pests such as the bark beetle have decimated the tree population of forests in many places. A study by researchers from Germany, the Netherlands and Australia now shows what impact climate change will have on plants and ecosystems.

On July 4, 2022, the ceremonial opening of the new technical center at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT) in Rostock took place. With the possibility of carrying out chemical experiments on a kilogram scale, it is intended to bridge the gap between basic research and practice. The federal government and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania provided a total of around 12 million euros for the construction, which took three and a half years to complete.

This year's asparagus season has recently come to an end. Although the season fell far short of expectations for asparagus farmers, huge quantities of asparagus peels ended up in the waste. A research team at Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts wondered whether these residual materials could not be put to better use in the sense of a biobased circular economy.