ARTi at the Biochar & Bioenergy Conference 2022
In August 2022 the ARTi Team is at West Virginia University for the 2022 North American Biochar & Bioenergy Conference. The conference’s main goal is to address the reduction of barriers to policy, practice, industrial, and scientific efforts in biomass use for biochar and bioenergy generation. The event will highlight local as well as international research, technology, and environmental challenges related to biochar and bioenergy.
ARTi has brought goals of our own. In addition to presenting our pyrolysis units and further ARTi technology, high-quality biochar and our upcoming iTRAp CO2 carbon sequestration initiative, we wanted to focus on reducing the carbon footprint of our attendance at the conference.ย
Attending a conference has an environmental impact. For green tech companies like ours it does cross our minds that we could and should see what we can do to reduce these impacts. But what are these impacts? Some impacts and emissions cannot be avoided as of yet. These would be the travel and the accommodations. But what can we do to generate the least possible ecological effects?ย
Recycling as much as possible and avoiding generating garbage by replacing printed materials with electronic versions are places where we can mitigate our impacts.ย
Small and repeated acts can show we can make a difference.
Making use of recycled material for our display materials was one of our impact strategies. The โfound artโ approach to up-cycling has some key principles. Through the salvaging processย new life and purpose is given to objects deemed nothing, worthless, or useless.ย
ARTi’s display at USBI 2022
On to the second area where we can lessen our impacts. Digital materials can reduce or eliminate the need for printed materials. The use of printed brochures has a significant impact on a number of concerns, including the destruction of the world’s forests, which contributes to global warming, and the production of trash.
A Printed Campaign vsโฆ.
The environmental organization Greenpeace estimates that every year over the past ten years, 4.7 million hectares of forests have been lost, and that 35% of all trees that are cut down are used to make paper (Link). There are also large environmental impacts from printed materials in their production and transportation in terms of CO2 emissions and electricity consumption.ย
A Digital Campaign
A digital campaign emits 300 times less CO2ย than a printed brochure campaign and does not generate any physical waste.ย
The process of turning wood into paper is one thing. Producing paper catalogs is another and the process uses a lot of water, energy, and money for shipping, not to mention that most of these brochures will be thrown away. These brochures ought to be recycled, if possible. But as these are frequently disposed of in non-recyclable waste bins, their environmental impact is increased.
Our brochures, flyers and receipts of purchase will all be digital. Yes, this is very standard nowadays. However, at a conference that is looking to address environmental challenges it becomes all that more important to be mindful.ย
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ยน. From Ecological Postmodernism to Material Ecocriticism: Creative Materiality and Narrative Agency, Oppermann, Serpil, 2014, Indiana University Press (Link)
We Care, We Act
The conference is in full swing right now so here are some photo updates of highlights.ย
See our participation in the USBI Conference 2022 in
