Keeping things cool requires a decent amount of carbon emissions.  Most of the time when you hear about solutions to this issue they're in the form of new types of refrigeration or cooling systems.  In an interesting twist, Unilever, the world's largest maker of ice cream (they own Ben & Jerry's, Breyer's, Good Humor, Popsicle and other brands), has decided that the best solution isn't changing how things are refrigerated, but making those things no longer require refrigeration.

Food scientists at Unilever are hoping to cut carbon emisissions by creating a low-carbon ice cream:  one that can be shipped and sold at room temperature and then frozen at home.  They're calling it "ambient" ice cream and it won't require energy-demanding refrigerated trucks or freezer cases, reducing the product's carbon footprint and saving Unilever some cash on energy costs.

There are some changes people aren't likely to take to, so I'm thinking the biggest hurdle for the company isn't going to be creating this product, but making sure it still meets consumers' expectations for ice cream.  People most likely won't care that they have to freeze it themselves, but if my Half Baked tastes half as good, I won't be buying it.

Assuming they produce an equally tasty treat, a good question is when this ambient, energy-saving ice cream hits the shelves, will it be cheaper?  A low-cost, low-carbon ice cream that still tastes good - now that would be a winning combination.

via Times of London

We all know that trees are great absorbers of CO2 and the idea of increasing the planting of trees to act as carbon sinks, especially in areas around coal plants and other offenders, has been floated around for a while.  But can you make a better tree?  A Columbia University professor thinks so.  He and his company, Global Research Technologies, have created a synthetic tree that they say captures CO2 1,000 times faster than regular trees and without the need for direct sunlight.

The trees feature plastic leaves that trap the CO2 in a chamber.  The gas is then compressed into a liquid and could be used in fuels or fertilizers. The trees collect 1,000 kg of CO2 for every 200 kg it emits and each tree could capture up to 90,000 tons of CO2 per year.

The trees are expensive to produce - about the same as a new car - but their performance could warrant the price.  The trees' ability to capture CO2 without the aid of sunlight means they could be used in dark, enclosed places where most trees couldn't survive.  They could be used to retrofit coal plants or placed in other areas that are subject to high CO2 emissions to curb the amount reaching the atmosphere.

via Popular Science