--- description: Find out why Windfall Bio Methane-Eating Microbes is one of the best inventions of 2024 title: Windfall Bio Methane-Eating Microbes: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bd2c418e5f2d3ac/698a8a28d075335617e75df2/windfall-biomethane-microbes-best-inventions.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 30, 2024 # Nature-Based Soil Treatment by [Chris Stokel-Walker](/author/chris-stokel-walker/) ## Chris Stokel-Walker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  While the world focuses on tackling carbon dioxide, methane is in some ways more harmful, with [up to 86 times more warming potential than CO2](https://unece.org/challenge "undefined") over a 20-year period. Windfall Bio is trying to remedy that “myopic” focus, says CEO Josh Silverman. Customers—mostly farmers—buy Windfall Bio’s naturally occurring methane-eating microbes, and spread them over soil. The microbes get to work, eating up the methane produced during the decomposition of organic matter in the same way yeast consumes sugar, while also capturing nitrogen from the air, producing organic fertilizer. “This is something we can actually do today,” Silverman says, “and we can make changes to climate in the next decade.” These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094880/windfall-bio-methane-eating-microbes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094880/windfall-bio-methane-eating-microbes/"},"headline":"Windfall Bio Methane-Eating Microbes: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024","datePublished":"2024-10-30T11:27:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:33.625Z","description":"Find out why Windfall Bio Methane-Eating Microbes is one of the best inventions of 2024","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094880/windfall-bio-methane-eating-microbes/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bd2c418e5f2d3ac/698a8a28d075335617e75df2/windfall-biomethane-microbes-best-inventions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Stokel-Walker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-stokel-walker/"}],"creator":"Chris Stokel-Walker","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bd2c418e5f2d3ac/698a8a28d075335617e75df2/windfall-biomethane-microbes-best-inventions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094880/windfall-bio-methane-eating-microbes/","name":"Windfall Bio Methane-Eating Microbes: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024"}}]}] ```