This week, a video went viral showing Bill Gates, one of the founders of Microsoft, tasting butter made from CO2 by one of his startups, Savor, which uses a thermochemical process to create dairy-free product alternatives.
Using four ingredients—CO2, heat, hydrogen, and oxygen—the company extracts carbon from the air and hydrogen from water. Savor then oxidizes these elements to form fat.
“I tried Savor’s CO2 butter and couldn’t believe I wasn’t eating real butter. The burger also tastes quite close to the real thing,” Gates remarked.
This new butter could significantly impact environmental issues, as dairy products produce substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. The startup points out that CO2 butter will have minimal emissions, about 0.8 grams per calorie, compared to the 2.4 grams of CO2 per calorie from traditional butter.
“The production process has no greenhouse gas emissions and doesn’t use land resources, except for a thousandth of the water used by traditional agriculture,” Gates added.
However, Savor is still in the experimental phase, seeking regulatory approval for commercialization. The company’s CEO, Kathleen Alexander, emphasizes that butter production is still pre-commercial.
“We don’t expect to start selling the product before 2025,” she said.
