How our project inspired a journey into microbes and biogas
From the beginning of this project, we knew that we wanted to show the people what we were doing at Micro4Biogas. And there were a few ways we could think of. But we wanted to step outside the box and give it a go with one of our favorite formats: the podcast!
Listening to podcasts has become something very natural in today’s world. We listen to them when we go to work, when we are cooking, when we are exercising, even to fall asleep! But even if we thought it was the perfect platform to broadcast our project, there was still a little problem… how were we going to convince the population to listen to a podcast about biogas?
Well, first and foremost, we poured all our enthusiasm into every episode. Secondly, we explored intriguing topics that we knew will capture people’s attention, like… what poop transplants have to do with biodigesters, how fart lamps sparked the development of this renewable energy, how beer production is related to biogas… and so on! We truly believe that biogas is an incredible tool, and we knew we could share our passion with the world.
Once we got that, we had to decide how many episodes we would produce and in which formats. Would it be just one person speaking? Should we include live events to engage the audience? What stories would we tell?
And we decided to do a bit of everything! But first, we thought about telling the story of biogas through the years and, naturally, sharing a bit of the Micro4Biogas story as well. And, of course, we needed international experts offering us insight into the journey of biogas.
A podcast was born
We’re sure you’ve listened to all the episodes, but just in case, here’s a quick recap! The journey began with Flammable Air, where we traveled from a lab in India to Victorian London to explore the history of biogas. We then continued with Concerning Microbes, discussing why solar and wind power are widely known while biogas remains largely overlooked—so much so that many people don’t even know what a biogas plant looks like.
After gaining a better understanding of the microscopic world and how anaerobic digesters work, we arrive to our next episode, Food for Fuel, where we discover that microbes can be just as picky about their diet as humans. While some foods help them thrive, others simply aren’t good enough.
The next episode reveals a surprising connection: the relationship between beer, probiotics, and biogas. But that's not all. In A Shitty Episode, we explore bioaugmentation, a technique that involves increasing the relative quantities of certain microorganisms to enhance their performance in specific processes.
On top of that, we also had two amazing online events where we explored the discovery of a very special order of bacteria that not only revolutionized the MicroBiogas project but also can have a great impact the industry. We covered the green energy transition in another online event (spoiler alert: it’s not as easy as it seems!). And there’s still one more event to go which will explore the case of Aras de los Olmos becoming energetically independent, with our top engineers and policy experts! Don’t miss out on this relevant live round table: Tomorrow (20th of May 2025), streamed on our YouTube channel at 17:00 CEST.
Feel free to listen to all our episodes on Spotify, YouTube, or your platform of choice, explore the fascinating connections within the microbial world, and become the storyteller in your friend groups with your newfound knowledge.
