As our world’s population grows, so does the demand for ammonia—a key ingredient in fertilizer. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that ammonia production must quadruple by 2050 to feed the increase in global population.

The current gold standard process for producing ammonia is energy-intensive and a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Invented in the early 1900s, the Haber-Bosch method requires mixing hydrogen and nitrogen gas at 400–500 degrees Celsius. It’s responsible for nearly 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions and accounts for 2% of fossil energy use.

Researchers from McMaster University have developed a process that is green and faster, generates ammonia more efficiently from nitrate—a common water pollutant—and is “cleaner” because it uses renewable electricity rather than fossil fuel.