Prince Charles has been in charge of continuing the work in defense of the environment and the conservation of the flora and fauna of our planet that his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, began.
Now the heir to the British throne has offered his support to a start-up founded by Francisco Norris and called Zelp, the acronym for ‘Zero Emissions Livestock Project’. Its objective is to reduce the harmful impact of the meat industry and, to achieve this, it has proposed to ‘equip’ cows with devices that capture the methane that these animals emit through their mouths and nostrils, which represents the 95 percent of the total amount they generate.
Zelp has collaborated with ABP, one of the UK’s largest meat producers, to test these masks in order to help reduce the footprint of beef production. Initial tests have shown a 53% reduction in methane emissions, and the company expects to reach 53% in the year that comes when they launch their commercial deployment.
The masks they pass the gases released by the cows through a catalyst, from where they are released into the air in the form of carbon dioxide and water vapour, and fit “snugly” around the animals’ heads without affecting their movements or habits.
Zelp’s invention was one of the four awarded with 50,000 pounds from the Terra Carta Design Lab, an award for students and alumni of the Royal College of Art, which is part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative launched by Prince Charles.
The son of Queen Elizabeth II was part of the jury that selected the winners, together with the rector of the Royal College of Art, Sir Jony Ive, who was also director of design at Apple, and found the masks completely “fascinating” while touring an exhibition showing the designs.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to be associated with the Royal College of Art, especially seeing the extraordinary ideas put forward by so many of its students and alumni,” he assured the winners. “Let me say that it is essential because of the urgency that we are facing, in terms of the crisis that affects us in all directions, and how important it is that what your ideas represent in terms of finding solutions quickly.”