Carbon Lab, our playground for fighting climate change
Besides our headquarters, we have another unique location in Berlin: our R&D and product development facility, Carbon Lab. Scientists here create and test new materials to help reverse climate change. As a startup at the intersection of material science and carbon sequestration, the research carried out at the lab is among our most important activities.
Made of Air's Carbon Lab is a playground for new ideas. This recently launched facility helps elevate our innovation to new levels by securing a space for continuous research and product development.
Why do we need all these new MOA materials?
Many of the world's products are made of materials with high embodied greenhouse gas emissions. These lead to varying degrees of damage to the natural environment. To address the climate emergency, we need to replace as many of them as quickly as possible.
However, the way these materials are utilized varies greatly, and different use cases might need different attributes. That means we also need several versions of our compound. For example, the construction industry may need a more durable, stronger product suited for heat pressing. On the other hand, a material for consumer goods might have to be lighter and easier to use with injection molding.
With so many use cases and processing methods for incumbent materials on the market, it's a complex task to replace them all.
What do we do at the Carbon Lab exactly?
Simply put, our scientists are developing various compounds to substitute all those materials. They're playing around with different mixtures of biochar, bioplastics, and other additives to find the perfect fit for different use cases and forming methods.
The outputs from these "recipes" are also tested inside the lab. Not only do our lab experts experiment with the basis of the product itself, but they also do their own initial forming trials. This way, they can establish the correct settings for each compound and help our production partners move toward speedy implementation.
Essential to our material's carbon negativity is the recyclability of any MOA product. Recycling tests employed at our facility help us get a good sense of what we can achieve in the field. That's why we also conduct tests that don't necessarily focus on new products but on how we treat our current offerings. We try to provide whole lifecycle solutions to our partners and prepare them for different end-of-life scenarios.
People at the Carbon Lab also look for suppliers and fact-check their statements so we can control our whole supply chain. This is essential to make science-based claims and stay true to our original mission.
Who is Carbon Lab?
Although the whole MOA team loves to work and share experiences at Carbon Lab, the core team of the facility consists of scientists and engineers. Their knowledge and expertise spanning material science, polymer science, chemistry, and more are crucial for our success.
They're all specialists in their respective fields with high levels of education ranging from master's degrees to PhDs. Many of them have years of experience, but we also find it important to recruit people just starting their careers. Due to that and their involvement in climate issues, they bring fresh ideas to the lab every day.
“It’s fantastic to have this state-of-the-art facility to spearhead our transformational approach to sustainable material development.”
Even if we usually aim for drop-in ready materials, sometimes we need to develop new tools and methods to test them out in the lab. For that reason, some of our team members in the Carbon Lab are production engineers who are always happy to get their hands dirty and try out ideas in real life.
We need partners to fight climate change
Reversing climate change is one of our planet's greatest issues, and fighting it cannot be done alone. That's why the location of our lab is also important. It's one of a series of workshop units in the CRCLR House. Here we can exchange ideas, tools, and a sense of solidarity with our neighbors.
A testament to eco-friendliness
The location of the Carbon Lab is a testament to our commitment to the environment. Made of Air was one of the first partners of CRCLR house, a working space in Berlin built from affordable, reused materials. Moreover, during construction, we used a version of our own compound for the flooring. We also used as many eco-friendly materials for the building process as possible.
The lab is also a social space for our team to get together with the rest of the Impact Hub community via social events. The sheer number of passers-by and visitors to the lab gives us a sense of community-building. Reversing climate change is one of our planet's greatest issues, and fighting it cannot be done alone. That's why the location of our lab is also important. It's one of a series of workshop units in the CRCLR House. Here we can exchange ideas, tools, and a sense of solidarity with our neighbors.
The lab is also a social space for our team to get together with the rest of the Impact Hub community via social events. The sheer number of passers-by and visitors to the lab gives us a sense of community-building.
Tangible climate impact at scale
Through our pilot projects with Audi and H&M, we have proven a concept that requires a scale to have a tangible impact on climate. Developing new "recipes" is a crucial step in our carbon-to-value journey, as it gives us a chance to tackle new use cases and reach scale. We are in business to replace heavy-emitting materials in circulation, and our journey begins right here at our Carbon Lab.
