Producing food on agricultural land and generating electricity at the same time - this concept is not new. So-called agri-photovoltaic systems (agri-PV systems) are already being tested at various locations across Germany. One advantage is that the dual use of agricultural land creates new sources of income for farmers. The MoorPower project is now investigating whether such a concept can also make the rewetting of degraded moorland more attractive for farms.

Whether in toys, cosmetics, cleaning products or fertilizers: Microplastics are contained in numerous products. These micrometer-sized particles are now not only present in bodies of water, but also in the soil, where they are harmful to plants and animals and thus to ecosystems. As part of the “Circularity with recycled and biogenic raw materials” funding initiative, the Volkswagen Foundation is once again supporting innovations for an environmentally friendly and circular economy.

In many parts of the world, people already eat insects. They are full of high-quality proteins and are easy to breed in large quantities while conserving resources, as they feed on organic waste. Insects can therefore make an important contribution to feeding the world and at the same time protect resources and the environment. Despite its enormous potential, insect farming is still associated with high process costs and an equally high consumption of resources.

Catch crops such as field mustard or legumes are small all-rounders for agriculture: they serve as animal feed or remain on the field as green manure to prepare or improve the soil for the next main crop. In this way, plants are supplied with nutrients, humus formation is promoted, the water, nutrient and carbon balance in the soil is stabilized and erosion is prevented. However, their potential as pollutant removers has so far been underestimated. 

Nitrogen is essential for plant growth. This is why legumes such as beans and chickpeas have adapted to life on nitrogen-poor soils. They form root nodules in which special bacteria can absorb nitrogen from the air. These rhizobia receive sugar from the plant in exchange for the fixed nitrogen.

Methanol is a sought-after chemical that is used for fuel production, among other things, and is made from fossil raw materials. The start-up Icodos - a spin-off of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - has developed an environmentally friendly alternative for the production of this all-purpose chemical: instead of crude oil and natural gas, biogas from waste streams such as sewage sludge is used as a raw material source in combination with renewable electricity to produce biomethane and e-methanol.

Two antenna-like feelers turn unicellular microalgae into fantastic swimmers. Two researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have harnessed this ability. They transformed the organisms into mini-robots that could be used as drug transporters in medicine, for example.

For millions of years, plants have been obtaining energy from photosynthesis. In this process, carbon and water are converted into sugar and oxygen with the help of sunlight. Imitating this natural metabolic pathway technically would have many advantages and is therefore an ambitious goal of numerous research teams. Chemists at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, have now come one step closer to artificial photosynthesis.