Set in 2035, CLIMARTE’s evolving, science and social research driven creative project features artwork reflecting on how community-owned renewable energy cooperatives incorporated regenerative biofuels (such as from algae, oleaginous bacteria, hemp, bamboo, yeast, mycelium, fungi) to power things that couldn’t easily be electrified, and to provide clean, flexible backup fuels essential for the energy transition.

COOL: How We Did It artwork tells the story of how Fresh Fuel* effectively closed the energy mix loop by complementing solar, wind and battery technologies to secure clean, reliable power that directly responds to community needs.

In drawing down carbon and generating oxygen, by 2035 these fast growing alternatives are effectively displacing fossil fuels, petroleum-based plastics, and chemical fertilisers. In addition, they’re providing highly nourishing food supplements and medical treatments for people and animals and regenerating soils. Grown in globally distributed, locally scaled (rather than ‘industrial’) models, Fresh Fuel (for food and energy) is also delivering jobs, purpose, and hope for a better future for communities everywhere.

Not ‘commercially viable’? This is what the fossil fuel industry said about solar and wind energy as well as batteries, all of which are already cheaper. Meanwhile, in 2023, the International Monetary Fund reported fossil fuel public subsidies to have reached $7 trillion (USD).

Despite decades of polluting industry obstruction – through distributed renewable and regenerative energy systems – the world is already transitioning to genuinely socially and ecologically sustainable economies. Viewed through this lens, the reactionary politics is no surprise.

COOL: How We Did It artwork is being created with a view towards presentation at COP31, should Australia be successful with its bid to host it. And in ways that will enable it to be experienced by anyone with access to the internet.

We gratefully acknowledge the City of Yarra for supporting artwork depicting a Fresh Fuel business plan, in development by Lichen Kelp.

*algae biofuels were in development in the 1940s.

Image: Lichen Kelp, snap frozen sunshower, documentation of liquid landscape/performance sculpture, 2023