BRB w/ Nathan P - Passively Cooled Buildings, Salmon w/ Harissa Cauliflower & Biomimicry
How buildings can self-cool by imitating termite mounds, a refreshing Ottolenghi flavor combination, and a read on design inspired by nature.
Hi all,
Welcome back to BRB w/ Nathan P - a weekly newsletter featuring 1 Breakthrough, 1 Recipe, and 1 Book revolving around food & climate. (BRB, get it?)
Before we get started, here are some highlights of food & climate in the news this week:
Washington introduces ‘cap-and-invest’ program to charge companies for CO₂ emissions (NBC News). Washington state is launching a cap & trade program similar to what we discussed in last week’s edition.
Elisa to roll out Europe’s largest distributed virtual power plant (Energy Monitor). Finland is building a next-generation power grid.
💥 Breakthrough: Passively Cooled Buildings
AC is a remarkable invention. It not only allows people to live comfortably in places they would not have lived in before, but also enables continued productivity in the hot months. However, AC accounts for 6% of the electricity produced in the US and 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. How could we design greener buildings, say by looking at nature?
Take termite mounds. These millimeter-sized insects build meter-sized structures that regulate temperature to fluctuate by no more than 4°C and 4% humidity year-round, some in desert-like climates. So how do they do it, and could we design more efficient buildings by learning from them?
Not to worry: no termites required.
When observing the structures of termite mounds, we learn 3 key things that we can apply to building design.
1. Build with high thermal capacity materials
Termites build with clay and other materials that can capture and isolate from heat during the day, and release that heat during cooler nights.
2. Allow passive internal airflow
Termites build tunnels and columns that take advantage the fact that warm air rises and cold air descends, allowing rooms to thermally self-regulate.
3. Take advantage of diurnal fluctuations
Buildings inspired from termite mounds can take in cool air at ground level at night. When temperatures rise during the day, warmer air can escape through vertical tunnels at the top of rooms and self-cool.
Using these design principles, Mick Pearce dreamed up Eastgate in Zimbabwe - the largest office and retail center in the country - to be 90% passively cooled and save 35% in energy costs. The diagram above depicts its clever design.
This approach of learning from nature’s designs is called biomimicry. Every living organism and living structure around us still exists because, simply put, it works. Nature is 3.8 billion years of R&D, and we need to steer away from innovations that seek to ‘improve’ or ‘dominate’ nature. Nature is truly high-tech, and the more we can learn rather than materially extract from her, the better off we will be.
Biomimetic design is the future because it’s better technology. And we’re just learning to tap into its potential. Today’s book recommendation below is by one of the biomimicry movement’s champions, Janine Benyus. More examples of biomimicry to come in future posts.
🥘 Recipe: Salmon w/ Harissa Cauliflower
I love Ottolenghi’s combination of fresh ingredients to make bright and flavorful dishes. I asked for his Simple cookbook for my birthday and I’m determined to make every recipe in it.
Impress your guests this weekend with salmon in spicy tomato sauce, tahini, and paprika oil, which I accompanied with oven-roasted harissa cauliflower.
Find the full recipe below. I recommend opting for wild-caught Alaskan salmon if you can find it as a more nutritious and sustainable option.
PS: if you make it, please send pictures :)
📚 Book: Biomimicry
This week, learn more about nature-inspired design in Janine Benyus’ Biomimicry. Biomimicry is learning from the strategies, designs, and cooperations in nature to implement solutions that nature has already time-tested through evolution.
Janine Benyus founded Biomimicry 3.8, a biological intelligence consultancy solving engineering problems by seeing how nature has already addressed them. She also had a central role in assembling Biomimicry Institute for research and learning and AskNature.org.
Here are the 3 biomimicry principles I believe to be the most important:
Nature runs on sunlight: most organisms survive directly or indirectly from photosynthesis. Nature is not necessarily efficient, but it is effective. For instance, there are thousands of leaves in a tree and not all get sunlight - but the tree thrives. Building systems that do the right things is more important than efficient systems that do the wrong things.
Nature fits form to function: functionality is inherent in design. This is a point that one of my green engineering professors would stress over and over again in designing any sustainable product: function, function, function.
Nature recycles everything: there is no such thing as waste in nature since anything produced will be desired by another. We need to design circular systems that better emulate nature, and there are countless opportunities for sustainability and entrepreneurship in valorizing wastestreams.
That is all for today - BRB next week ✌️
Recipe: Salmon with Spicy Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe (source: Masterclass).
Ingredients (5-6 servings)
2½ lb of salmon without pin bones
¾ c Tahini Sauce
7 garlic cloves (6 thinly sliced and 1 crushed)
2 Fresno chilies, thinly sliced
3 tbsp tomato paste
3 large plum tomatoes, diced
1 tsp granulated sugar
20 g cilantro, some chopped and some for garnish
Olive oil
½ tsp paprika
Salt
Instructions (45 minutes)
Sauté: Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a large sauté pan on medium-high heat. Once hot, add the sliced garlic and Fresno chilies and cook until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and sauté for another minute.
Add the fresh tomatoes, sugar, 1 cup of water, and 1½ teaspoons of salt to the pan with the garlic and chilies. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat to medium-low and cook at a low simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has thickened slightly, about 12 minutes. Stir in the cilantro, reserving about 1 tablespoon for the finishing oil.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/400°F.
Season the salmon with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ¾ teaspoon of salt. Season the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of oil and ¼ teaspoon of salt, and set aside.
Transfer the tomato sauce to a roasting tray or dish large enough to fit all or most of the salmon.
Transfer the salmon skin side down to the roasting tray on top of the sauce, tucking the tail underneath if it’s too long to fit. Roast for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and nestle the shrimp into the sauce, avoiding the top of the salmon. Return to the oven until the shrimp are just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.
Make a paprika oil. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the crushed garlic, and the paprika to a small frying pan set over medium-high heat. Cook until the oil just begins to bubble and the garlic is fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the remaining cilantro.
Remove the salmon from the oven and drizzle generously with the Tahini Sauce. Spoon the paprika oil over the top, along with a final drizzle of olive oil. Serve warm with any extra tahini on the side.
Recipe: Oven-Roasted Harissa Cauliflower (side)
Since this takes slightly longer, I would recommend preparing the salmon once the cauliflower is in the oven.
Ingredients (5-6 servings)
1 head of cauliflower
Half a large onion, diced
8 Fresno chilies, stems on, slit down the center
5 g picked cilantro
1 lemon, cut into wedges
90 g Rose Harissa
2 tsp tomato paste
1½ tsp granulated sugar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Salt
Olive oil
Instructions (1h)
Trim the leaves at the top of the cauliflowers, exposing 2 to 3 inches of the cauliflower itself. Cut each cauliflower into quarters, making sure that the leaves remain attached at the base.
Fill a large pot with well-salted water and bring to a boil. Boil the cauliflowers for 2 minutes, weighing them down with a lid a little smaller than the pan to ensure they stay submerged. Transfer the wedges to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Add the onion and chilies to the baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Make the Rose Harissa.
Make the chili oil. In a mixing bowl, add the Rose Harissa, tomato paste, Aleppo chili, sugar, garlic, salt, and olive oil, and whisk to combine.
Pour the chili oil over the sheet with the cauliflower, onions, and Fresno chilies. Use your hands to toss well (wear gloves if you are sensitive to spice), massaging the chili oil into all of the crevices of the cauliflower.
Roast the cauliflower until it is golden brown and crispy, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and baste the vegetables with the chili oil 2 or 3 times throughout cooking.
Transfer the roasted cauliflower to a serving platter, spooning all of the remaining chili oil and its solids collected from the baking sheet over the top. Garnish with cilantro leaves and a squeeze of lemon juice, and serve immediately.
About Me
Hi there! My name is Nathan Paumier - I’m an avid reader, food enthusiast, and climate optimist. I started this newsletter after frequent questions on food tech, reading recommendations, and my secret recipes.
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