March 2009 Archives

According to advocacy group the Center For American Progress, oil companies BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell are said to be big misers when it comes to renewable energy investments even though they spend millions of advertising dollars in green energy promotion.

The group's new report says that the five companies made a combined profit of $100 billion last year but they just invested an average of 4% of their total 2008 profits in renewable and alternative energy ventures.

"This reality contrasts with their ads that promote greener, cleaner images," the group says. "Despite their soaring earnings, the big five companies were very stingy with investments in renewable and low-carbon energy technologies and fuels that would reduce oil dependence."

Several New York news are recently buzzing about bisphenol-A (BPA) in polycarbonate baby bottles as Senator Charles Schumer (along with Senator Dianne Feinstein of Calif. and Rep. Edward Markey of Mass.) led a nationwide proposal to ban the plastic bottles.

Early March, New York's Suffolk county legislators voted to ban the plastic in baby bottles and sippy cups, making them the first governmental body in the country to pass a BPA ban.

Major baby bottle manufacturers Avent, Disney First Years, Gerber, Dr. Brown, Playtex Products and Evenflow, have already promised to stop selling the bottles while BPA manufacturer Sunoco even started restricting sales of bisphenol-A if it is going to be used in manufacturing baby feeding bottles and food containers.

These kind of activities have been increasing despite constant assurances from government bodies across the world (except Canada I guess). Still, states seem to hesitant in passing any kind of statewide ban and just today, a BPA ban bill in Washington State is expected to be struck down in the senate.

One last note I wanted to ask our friends from the plastic industry, is it true that all #7 plastics contain BPA as was hinted on the video?? This type of information could cause confusion among consumers as they will try to avoid buying food products in #7 plastic containers.

Japanese chemical company Teijin has been very active in their green product development these past few years and I will in fact attend their New York press conference tomorrow morning (March 31).

At the event, they will globally launch their Eco-A-Wear, said to be the first environment-friendly fabric made from recycled plastic bottles, and Eco-Circle, said to be the world's first closed-loop recycling system for used polyester products.

I hope you follow my tweets as I talk to Teijin executives and fabric engineers regarding these technologies. I'll post a blog (after I do my ICIS news duty) for more complete coverage of the event.

In the meantime, the company also said (via email) that Mazda Motor Corp. is now using 100% of Teijin's BIOFRONT plant-based bioplastic in car seat fabric for Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid.

Mazda began leasing the car on March 25.

BIOFRONT, according to Teijin, is an innovative heat-resistant bioplastic with a melting point of 210°C, significantly higher than the 170°C melting point of conventional polylactide (PLA).

Teijin plans to continue to refine BIOFRONT fabric for use in automobiles, aiming at sales within the industry of 100 million yen ($1.03 million) in 2011 and 300 million yen ($3.1 million) in 2012.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) says its new Ariel ExcelGel, which was recently launched in Western Europe is currently transforming the detergent category in that region.

Gianni Ciserani, P&G president, Western Europe said last week at the 7th Annual European Business Summit that the detergent uses less chemicals, less water and less energy.

"A small dose delivers brilliant cleaning even at wash temperatures as low as 15 degrees. The product contains 20% less chemicals per wash and the pack uses 45% less plastic than a common liquid detergent."

P&G also intends to deliver a 20% reduction (per unit of production) in carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, water usage and disposed waste from P&G plants, leading to a total reduction over the decade of at least 50%. P&G's original target is a 10% reduction in each of its operational categories.

For transportation in Europe, P&G says it aims to increase the use of rail transportation from 10% to 30% by 2015. This represents an annual reduction of 67,500 tons of C02.

Spring has sprung (although it seems winter wants to stay forever!) and cleaning is again a hot topic to cover. According to the Soap and Detergent Association (SDA), the current economy is influencing a lot of consumer's buying choices and cleaning habits this year.

In their 2009 Spring Cleaning survey, more than four in ten (44%) say they are buying less expensive cleaning products; one-third say they are buying fewer cleaning products. Other respondents say economic factors influenced them to make their own cleaning products at home (22%) or clean less frequently (17%).

The survey also reported consumers are increasingly seeking sustainability-related benefits in their cleaning products, as 61% of those surveyed looking for those features in 2009 compared to 38% reported in 2008.

Maybe that is why there seems to be more pressure for cleaning products manufacturers to be greener and launch more new environment-friendly products.

Here is a video from Today show talking about the growing advocacy for cleaning products manufacturers to reveal the ingredients they use.

Another bad mark for Chinese-made products is this news I came across a few weeks ago about toxic Chinese-made dry wall.

According to advocacy group America's Watchdog, toxic imported Chinese dry wall are being discovered all over the state of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Orleans. Some of the signs that a house (especially that was built or remodeled in 2005 to 2008) has the potentially toxic imported Chinese dry wall include the following:

• The house has a strong or noticeable smell of sulphur or rotten eggs.
  

• The home has experienced repeated air conditioning coil issues or corrosion
  

• The home's occupants have experienced upper respiratory issues, nose bleeds, or other medical issues.
  

• Young children or senior citizens may be the first to show signs of exposure to a home with the imported Chinese dry wall.
  

"We think we are going to end up with 25,000 to 50,000 US homes with the imported toxic Chinese dry wall. If you even think you smell sulphur or rotten eggs in a house built, or remodeled between 2005 and 2008, in Florida, New Orleans, the West Coast, the East Coast, anywhere, please call us immediately at 866-714-6466 or contact us via our web site at http://HomeownersConsumerCenter.Com."

The green blogger is back in the virtual world and don't know where to start after a few days of computer-free vacation. I can't believe I survived! Thank God for Iphone!

Before tackling a massive amount of green information and piled e-mails, here are some of the news my trusted Google Reader provided for me for this week's news roundup:

Braskem breaks ground on green plastic
Braskem will formally break ground on its green polyethylene plant project in Brazil on April 22. Commercial operations are scheduled to begin in 2011. The plant will have production capacity for 200 thousand tons per year.

Accelerating hydrogen vehicles to market
Linde said its new Ionic Compressor technology will help accelerate the commercialization of hydrogen-powered vehicles of all kinds. The technology is now being introduced to North America for fork lift trucks.

The blogger is on a much-needed break for the next 7 days but will try to post as much as possible if she can get hold of a computer and internet access. However, you can still follow her on twitter thanks to the amazing wonders of Iphone.

The building and construction market might be down but demand for construction chemicals geared towards green is expected to do well, according to several chemical companies.

You can check out my article on this on ICIS Chemical Business' March 9 issue featuring commentaries from BASF, Dow Chemicals, Nova Chemicals and Ashland. Terry Knowles, a consultant from UK-based IRL, also talked about the greening of paints and coatings in his report, "Construction coatings get greener."

By the way, Dow Chemical recently announced that all of its Styrofoam brand building insulation produced in Dalton, Georgia, are now using a zero ozone-depleting, zero VOC (volatile organic compound) foaming agent technology just in time for the Montreal Protocol deadline, which requires the phase-out of the hydrochloro-fluorocarbon (HCFC) 142b, an ozone-depleting compound by January 1, 2010.

Dow said its Dalton facility will begin shipments of the new Styrofoam insulation by the end of March, and other plants to follow throughout the year.

The building industry has been watching closely to see when manufacturers will convert and how quickly they will be able to get new product into the supply chain. STYROFOAM XPS Foam Insulation with our new foaming agent technology is exactly the right product at the exactly the right time," said Torsten Kraef, vice president and general manager, Dow Building Solutions.

Here's one trivia by the way. In case you noticed earlier, Styrofoam is a brand name of Dow's so the polystyrene foam cup you're using for your coffee or those annoying white foam packaging materials that keeps sticking to your hair and hands are not called Styrofoam unless they're made by Dow (which is doubtful).

But maybe I should Google this information first just to be sure...

The City Council of Palo Alto, California, last week plans to ban single-use plastic checkout bags as well as imposed a fee on single use paper check out bags from large supermarkets effective September 18, 2009.

The City Council said their Bring Your Own Bag campaign conducted between April 1, 2008 and January 31, 2009 had been successful in changing consumer behavior at large supermarkets. A survey was said to have found the use of reusable bags doubled over the timeframe of the program from 9% to 19% of customers. Those taking no bag increased from 7.6% to 16.2%.

"Palo Alto now concludes that the community carbon dioxide emissions total from grocery store checkout bag use immediately after implementation will decrease to 169 metric tons/year." - City Council, Palo Alto, California

"The City's action potentially creates a crater in statewide recycling efforts because grocery stores otherwise required by state law to offer recycling will no longer be required do so."- ACC

I've been tinkering with twitter for the past two weeks and I think this tool will be really useful in getting out interesting tidbits of information especially when attending conferences and trade shows. I'll test out this theory at the 100th birthday of the American Oil Chemists Society meeting in Orlando, Florida, which will be held on May 3-6.

Follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/Greenchicgeek.

And now, here are this week's news roundup:

Glycerine fuel contract
XcelPlus Global Holdings secured initial contracts for 200 million gallons of its "green" fuel-oil supplement, GlyClene. The fuel can be made from any crude glycerol, regardless of the feedstock, including yellow grease. The company continues in negotiations with prospects in the poultry processing, electronics, paving materials and carpet industries, all of them large consumers of fuel oil.

Biodiesel equipment alliance
Engineering services ENGlobal and Greenline Industries, a major supplier of small-to-medium scale biodiesel production equipment, formed an alliance to pursue opportunities in the sustainable energy and biodiesel marketplace.

ConAgra Foods is not only using biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) plastic to some of its packaged food products' shrink films but the plastics themselves contain more than 50% recycled PLA.

The new recycled biodegradable shrink films can be found on tamper evident seals of ConAgra's branded products such as Fleischmann's Blue Bonnet and Parkay, and for printed shrink labels in Reddi Whip and PAM cooking spray.

ConAgra said the new technology was developed in partnership with Plastic Suppliers, Bluepack, and NatureWorks LLC. The company's conversion to the new material will divert more than 350,000 pounds/year of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and more than 50,000 pounds/year. of polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) from the company's raw material stream.

2009 seems to be a booming year for bioplastic manufacturers. NatureWorks just announced its plans for another new manufacturing facility (partly maybe because of ConAgra??); Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Metabolix' bioplastic joint venture is expected to start producing corn-based polyhydroxy alkanoate (PHA) plastic in its new 110 million pounds/year plant in Clinton, Iowa, this Spring; and Teijin plans to soon mass produced its stereo-complex polylactic acid (PLA) plastic at the 10,000-ton level in 2010.

This is not about my blog's revenue (which, unfortunately, currently amounts to zero) but pertaining to the global renewable chemicals market.

According to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, revenues for the global biorenewable chemicals market reached $1.63 billion last year and is expected to increase to $5 billion in 2015. Most of the growth is driven by fast development of microorganisms that produce higher chemical yields as well as the volatility of petroleum oil.

Of course, there is the environmental benefits as well.

"Emission levels are reduced with the use of bio-based feedstock in chemical manufacture. The manufacturing process of sorona bio plastic from renewable feedstock lowers green house gases by up to 50 per cent, compared to the manufacturing process of Nylon 6 from non-renewable feedstock." - Frost & Sullivan

You've read about the ruckus that the recently-enforced Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is causing to small business retailers and libraries.

Here's a commentary from my colleague Ivan Lerner about the foolishness of this law and its effects on our cultural heritage. This was published on March 9 Endpoint issue of ICIS Chemical Business.

Lead, and they shall follow

By Ivan Lerner

IT WAS with horror that I heard the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008, which went into effect on February 10, was recommending that books from before 1985 be destroyed.

The excuse for this atrocious activity came in the form of that tidy, contemporary, catch-all phrase that is meant to shut down any opposition or potential arguments: it's being done to protect the children.

The CPSIA was passed by the US Congress last summer after the panic over lead paints from China. In their wisdom, our elected officials have included among the prohibited items children's books, which before 1985 used lead-based pigments in some of their inks and dyes.

Let's just think about this for a moment, though. The books being recommended for liquidation are more than likely the same ones you and I read in childhood. How many people do you know have suffered from lead poisoning stemming from books they've eaten? And don't start recounting lead paint statistics at me - because there is a huge difference between a dried paint chip that's cracked off a wall and a copy of A.A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner.

Across the blogosphere, patrons and owners of thrift stores and used bookstores are lamenting the new law: "I just came back from my local thrift store with tears in my eyes! I watched as boxes and boxes of children's books were thrown into the garbage."

Libraries have staved off the ruling successfully so far, but for how long? And who's to say that our collection of Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter from the 1930s, or those Doc Savage paperbacks from the early 1960s, aren't one day considered verboten?

It doesn't matter if no children ever visit your hermit's cave. The potential is there, and the health and welfare of some imaginary child is more important than your collection, Mr. Bookworm! So into the fire it goes! It's true that not all children's books are created equal, but this is not about the relative merits of Dr. Seuss over Richard Scarry. This is about how, on the flimsiest of evidence, book burning, burying or shredding - but always destroying - is being recommended as a way to protect the innocent.

That's sure some world you're protecting those kids for, CPSIA.

While Shell abandons the solar and wind market in favor of biofuels, DuPont meanwhile expects the solar market to increase more than half of its size in 2013 to $70 billion as compared to today's $30 billion (worldwide).

I can understand DuPont's enthusiasm for the solar market since sales of their photovoltaic materials and technology seem to be doing good. The company expects to nearly triple its annual photovoltaic sales to more than $1 billion in 2012. DuPont said it has been dabbling in photovoltaic materials development and manufacturing for 25 years now.

That is why it also makes sense for Shell to just focus on fuel since isn't that their core strength anyway? I do wonder if BP will follow Shell's footstep as well.

Back to DuPont, the company says it will invest in increasing its production capability to meet the rising demand.

Another specialty chemical company that is investing a lot in photovoltaics these days is Germany-based Wacker Chemie. According to ICIS News (subscription required), Wacker will invest €800m ($1.04bn) this year with the "vast majority" going towards its polysilicon business.

Wacker's polysilicon sales jumped 81% to €828m for 2008. Here in the US, the company announced in late February that it plans to invest $1bn (mid-term) in a new polysilicon facility in Tennessee. Wacker says the new plant will create about 500 new jobs.

One incentive from Tennessee, as reported by Associated Press, is that they're offering to cover the cost of any future carbon tax for green companies that make major investments in the state.

The credit would apply to any green energy supply chain company investing at least $250 million. Aside from Wacker, Hemlock Semiconductor ( a joint venture between Dow Corning Corp. and Japanese firms, Shin-Etsu Handotai and Mitsubishi Materials) plans to set up a $1.2 billion polysilicon shop as well in Montgomery County, Tennessee.

Yesterday, ICIS News reported that Shell is focusing more on biofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS) for their renewables project rather than wind and solar where according to Shell's downstream director Mark Williams, "Wind and Solar have struggled to compete even with substantial subsidies."

A Reuters report expounded that Shell doesn't plan to make any more large investments in wind and solar energy in the future and even said that "they do not expect hydrogen to play an important role in energy supply for some time."

Shell (and BP) pulled out of of their wind investments in the UK last year. Reuters said Shell invested around $1.25bn in green energy from 1999-2006 with wind energy accounting for a large part of that investment.

Just to press my point about the numerous consulting reports and studies that came out - and continuously coming out - with most of them positive about not only the promise of green jobs and higher green investments but expectations of rising interests in green products amid the current economy.

I think being gushy and optimistic is good. A lot of green growth outlook sees beyond 2010 so they tend to downplay expected flat or declining results for this year. However, we do have to be wary about ambiguous reporting which is definitely a greenwashing method in my opinion.

• IRI Finds Green Products Sustain Momentum in Down Economy - Latest IRI Study Finds 30% of Consumers Feel It's Important to Purchase Eco-Friendly Products.

• Greentech Remains an Attractive Sector for Venture Capital Community Despite Negative Impact of Economic Crisis - KPMG LLC

• New research by EnviroMedia Social Marketing: Young Americans, an estimated audience of 76 million people, will power the new green economy and are the key to future economic growth.

• Green companies are achieving above-average performance in the financial markets during this slowdown - AT Kearney.

• Green Gets Real...Current Economic Environment Subduing Green Enthusiasm But Driving Practical Action - GfK Roper Consulting

It is true that most of the reports I've encountered (and posts) about the burgeoning green economy and the promise of new jobs are all seem to be bright, sunny, absolutely, positively (sometimes nauseatingly) optimistic.

Finally, here is a report that might put back a little bit of realism into the equation.

Researchers from the University of Texas-Arlington, York College of Pennsylvania, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and University of Illinois launched a study called Seven Myths About Green Jobs which calls into question the widespread claims on potential economic, employment and environmental benefits promoted by groups such as the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the Center for American Progress, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) among others.

The authors of the study said these green job claims lack sound research methods, have erroneous economic assumptions and routinely uses technological omissions to lend support to major public policies and government spending initiatives. They also emphasized the lack of peer review analysis and transparency of models and calculations in some of the recent green job claims.

"One of the major flaws in existing research is its failure to acknowledge that mandating a move to new "green" sectors of the economy and away from fossil fuel-based sectors will shift jobs rather than create new jobs and thus overall economic growth."

• No agreed, coherent definition of a "green job" exists in the public debate. Many of the jobs classified as "green" in these four most popular studies produce no environmental results.

• Green jobs ultimately will not promote employment growth or improve production because many are concentrated by design in low productivity occupations.

• Green jobs proponents rely on highly problematic assumptions about constant prices and lack of technological change that render their "multiplier effect" misleading and, therefore, useless.

• Green job advocates incorrectly assume that government mandates are a substitute for free markets. Their models are based on the assumption that politicians can predict what technologies are best and what the markets will bear.

• Many green jobs proposals are an effort to implement anti-trade policies and reduced consumption scenarios that would be unacceptable to most Americans.

Now you will know what SC Johnson is using in their air care and home cleaning products such as Windex®, Pledge®, Glade®, and Scrubbing Bubbles® (among others) as the company pledged (Lol! no pun intended) to list all of their ingredients including dyes, preservatives and fragrances on product labels.

This is above and beyond what the cleaning industry intends as they launched their voluntary Ingredient Communication Initiative for companies to list their product ingredients - excluding dyes, fragrances and preservatives - online, on product labels, via toll-free number or using some other non-electronic means.

SC Johnson said their information will also be available on their website as well as via the company's toll-free number (1-800-558-5252).

Their newly-labeled home cleaning and air care products will start rolling now through January 2012.

Another important announcement from SC Johnson is that they are keen on banning phthalates - particularly diethyl pthalate - from their fragrances and already asked their fragrance suppliers last year to start phasing them out ... even though they insist that "DEP has been extensively researched and has been deemed safe by various scientific bodies."

The company said plans are underway to manufacture new and reformulated products without phthalates. The company expects to be out of phthalates completely within the next two years.

Oregon-based plastic recycler Agri-Plas claims to be the first company in the US to convert unrecyclable agricultural plastics --- dirty agricultural film, greenhouse cover, mixed nursery and jug material, prepackaged food containers and lids, etc. --- into crude oil.

The plastics were usually discarded in landfills or is abandoned, burned or buried on Northwest farms and nurseries.

Agri-Plas recently delivered its first full tanker (8,200 gallons) of oil to a refinery in Tacoma, Wash., which translates to a final delivery of 196 barrels of oil. Now we don't have to wait millions of years to get certain crude oil from the ground! Brilliant huh?!

The company claims the oil can be refined and used in literally thousands of high-end products ranging from makeup to food items, as well as gasoline, diesel, lubricants and other petroleum-based products.

Agri-Plas is gearing up to deliver its second shipment of crude oil this month. The company is also planning to expand its operations within the next several months and within the next year, hopes to create up to 58 new green-collar jobs at its headquarters in Brooks, Oregon.

The ICIS blog system was down during the weekend and so the weekly roundup was a little bit late today (always my excuse I say). Several global and US news about bisphenol-A came out last week thanks to my Tweeter insiders and I'll share that this week.

For now, here are this week's round-up:

Air Products purifies CO2
Air Products signed a cooperative deal with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to design and construct a carbon dioxide (CO2) purification system in support of an oxyfuel technology development project, which is part of DOE's furthering development of new and cost-effective technologies for the capture of CO2 from the existing fleet of U.S. coal-fired power plants.

Buy sustainable palm oil credits
Green household products producer Seventh Generation became the first North American company in its industry to purchase sustainable palm kernel oil certification credits to offset company wide use of the ingredient across its entire product line. By purchasing the credits, Seventh Generation is paying a premium to palm kernel oil producers that use more environmentally responsible practices to produce and harvest palm kernel oil.

The first biopolymer facility of NatureWorks (a joint venture of US agribusiness Cargill and Japanese chemical firm Teijin) has not even reached its full capacity of 140,000 tons yet and the company is now assessing a second location for another manufacturing plant.

Global demand for their bioplastic under the brand Ingeo seems to be really rising fast if the company's current plant in Blair, Nebraska, can't keep up with the expected bioplastic growth.

NatureWorks said they are looking for a potential new facility in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas, and is evaluating the availability of plant-based feedstock required for the bioplastic.

The company is currently using corn for raw materials. It's Ingeo facility in Nebraska was inaugurated last year and is expected to reach full capacity by mid-2009.

"We anticipate continued advancements in the resin's performance, as well as an increase in the number of products and applications using Ingeo™. We're starting our assessment now, recognizing that typical timeframes for design and construction of such facilities can be three years after a decision is made," said Marc Verbruggen, president and CEO.

Nowadays, children cannot drink milk from bottles or play with their rubber duckies without worrying about phtalates; they cannot read books or play with toys without worrying about lead; they cannot use wipes and hand sanitizers because of probable bacterial resistance risks due to antimicrobials; and now they cannot even take a bath without worrying about formaldehyde!

No wonder many couples just try to avoid having kids if they have to go through all of these worries.

This latest study by the group Campaign for Safe Cosmetics are charging well-known brand children's bath products of being contaminated with formaldehyde and 1,4 dioxane, which are said to cause cancer.

The group specifically mentioned brands such as Johnson's Baby Shampoo, Sesame Street Bubble Bath, Grins & Giggles Milk & Honey Baby Wash, Huggies Naturally Refreshing Cucumber & Green Tea Baby Wash, Baby Magic Baby Lotion, and American Girl shower products.

Two chemical companies are on the race to make acrylic acid greener. Acrylic acid is used in the manufacture of various plastics, coatings, adhesives, elastomers as well as floor polishes and paints.

France-based Arkema said it has already concluded a successful collaboration with Germany-based hte (the high throughput experimentation company) on trying to convert glycerol to acrylic acid and acrolein by screening a variety of new suitable catalysts.

Arkema said hte's technology saved a vast amount of time and they were able to produce results in a matter of months that would normally have taken over two years using conventional testing equipment. No word yet on Arkema's next step with the project. A pilot plant perhaps?

Meanwhile, ICIS News reported (this link is subscription only) that US-based Novomer is working to produce a greener acrylic acid using ethylene and recycled carbon monoxide. The process, according to Novomer, would create higher yields, fewer byproducts and require less energy compared to the traditional propylene-based acrylic acid route.

I have back-to-back (to back) article deadlines for the next two weeks and therefore will be unable to post as much as I could.

This news, however, is too interesting to pass up as I am what you call a "sleep connoisseur". Maybe I should join the Specialty Sleep Association (SSA) - yes there is such a group and in fact they just established the first mattress/bedding industry "Green Initiative."

"While we laud the overall movement towards environmentally-friendly sleep products, we are aware that there is a green washing taking place at retail, with every manufacturer and supplier using its own definitions of what is green, sustainable or natural. This is causing a tremendous amount of confusion with consumers and we as an industry must take a leadership role in creating a uniform set of standards and definitions." - SSA President Dale T. Read, who is also the publisher of BEDROOM Magazine.

Searching for some past posts revealed green bedding products such as Natural Care mattresses by Simmons Bedding Company (featuring Dow's soy-based polyols), and organic mattress by Vivetique. By the way, are mattresses recyclable?

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting might sound ominous to energy-intensive industries but the American Chemistry Council (ACC) is actually very supportive of this.

ACC says a US reporting system such as this is needed as a basis for discussion, development and implementation of a national climate policy.

"Consistent with our forward-looking approach to climate issues, ACC member companies track greenhouse gas emissions data and report it to ACC as a requirement of membership under our Responsible Care® program."

I wonder if other large GHG emitters such as cement, coal, electricity, petroleum have the same GHG emission type of reporting such as ACC's? This will definitely make EPA's job a lot easier.

Also around 40-50 large livestock operations are expected to report their GHG based on EPA's emission source data. Unless of course if methane emissions from those facilities will be captured for use.

I'm hearing "ka-ching" from methane capture system suppliers.

According to the EPA, approximately 13,000 facilities accounting for 85%-90% of GHG emitted in the US would be covered under the proposal. Petroleum suppliers, industrial chemicals, motor vehicle and engine manufacturers were specifically included although EPA says small businesses would not be required to report their emissions because their emissions fall well below the threshold of 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

The EPA says an average annual household emissions in the US are about 11 metric tons.

The first annual report would be submitted to EPA in 2011 for the calendar year 2010, except for vehicle and engine manufacturers, which would begin reporting for model year 2011.

EPA estimates that the expected cost to comply with the reporting requirements to the private sector would be $160 million for the first year. In subsequent years, the annualized costs for the private sector would be $127 million.

In a recent media dinner with Shell, they shared with me a really cool event that has been ongoing for years and unfortunately escaped my green radar.

Shell's Eco-marathon invites students from all over the world to design and build the world's most fuel-efficient vehicle and produce the fewest emissions. Teams can enter two main categories:

• Futuristic prototypes - which are streamlined vehicles where the primary design consideration is reducing drag and maximizing efficiency
  

• Urban Concept vehicles - which are built to more conventional 4-wheel roadworthy criteria (new to the Americas event in 2009)

The Eco-marathon has been ongoing in Europe for 25 years and in 2007, Shell started the Eco-marathon Americas, which again will be held this year this time in Fontana, California, on April 15-18.

Watch the vid to learn more about it. Shell will hold this year's Eco-marathon Europe on May 7-9 in Germany while a brand new Eco-marathon Asia will be held next year in Malaysia.

Shell said the marathon started in 1939 as the 'Shell Mileage Marathon' when a friendly wager between scientists at Shell Oil's research laboratory in Wood River, Illinois, tried to find who could get the most miles per gallon from their vehicles.

My apologies to Amy Johnson of BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota as it took me over a week to finally post the Alliance's renewables report.

The group along with Deloitte Consulting released a roadmap growth report entitled Destination 2025, which recommended the support of renewable energy and renewable materials markets as well as in medical devices, biologics and pharmaceuticals, animal health and food markets.

Sample recommendations for the renewable materials and renewable energy industries include:

• Position Minnesota as a world leader in engineering and processing to produce products from renewable materials as the industry has the potential to create a significant number of manufacturing jobs in Minnesota.
  

• Support clean, green, and renewable products and services.
  

• Uncover overlapping and convergent opportunities and resolve conflicting demands between the food, renewable energy, and renewable materials industries.
  

• Establish Minnesota as a leader in sustainable biomass supply and develop a combustible biomass industry.
  

• Establish a complete portfolio of financial policies and strategies that support all aspects of business development, from early-stage funding to ongoing R&D tax credits, encouraging private-sector investment and commitment to grow industries and jobs in Minnesota.

In 2007, Minnesota's ethanol industry was said to have employed 1,400 people and had sales of $1.68 billion. I do wonder if that figure might be down now with the current ethanol slump and some businesses already closed. The Alliance said Minnesota is the 5th largest ethanol producer in the US.

Minnesota's paper, pulp, and board segments of the forest-product industry (which are said to be relevant to bioprocessing) is said to have employed 4,400 people in 2007 with revenues of $1.87 billion for pulp and paper and $450 billion for board manufacturing.

The problem with Minnesota, according to the report, is that the state's biomass feedstock supply chain is poorly coordinated and that the state lacks large-scale collaborations between academic entities and the renewable materials industry. Federal funding has also been limited.

I always thought that theme parks could be one of the most wasteful, unsustainable places on earth as I imagine piles and piles of garbage in their gigantic trash warehouse; tons of water being used to keep their gardens and lawns nice and pretty as well as to operate their water rides; and all that energy to light up and keep the whole place moving.

Well, Walt Disney is making sure their theme parks will be family-friendly and environment-friendly as well as they announced their long-term sustainability goals in their first-ever corporate responsibility report.

Some of their 3-5 year environmental goals (among others) include zero waste, zero net direct greenhouse gas emissions, reduce indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electricity consumption, minimize water use, and minimize product footprint.

As of 2006, Disney's direct GHG emissions from fuel combustions and refrigerant leaks coming from their various global offices and retail stations, theme parks and resorts, and cruise ships, were around 567,042 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Indirect GHG emissions from electricity were estimated at 1.08 million tons.

By 2012, Disney hopes to reduce their direct emissions from fuels by 50%. The company said it is also developing a plan to aggressively pursue renewable sources of electricity to reduce emissions from electricity.

This will be a huge contract deal for renewable energy companies for sure.

As for their waste, around 298,000 tons were generated in 2006 and 170,000 tons of them were sent to landfill. Disney hopes to decrease 50% of the 2006 solid waste to landfill by 2013 as well as increase use of post-consumer recycled materials.

The American Chemistry Council will be happy to hear that all of Disney's plastic bags will have a message that describes the environmental attributes of the bag and inspires reuse and recycling for their disposal.

[Probably] because of the recession and since clean tech investments are still sizzling hot these days, Oncolin Therapeutics is having a big makeover from being a drug development company to becoming a renewable energy producer through its subsidiary New EnerSource.

Oncolin Therapeutics recently ditched 75% of its ownership in its biotech subsidiary Intertech Bio as the company does not have enough green dough to fund an early stage biotech company.

"This move will also allow Intertech Bio to be classified as a private entity and pursue grants and also traditional venture capital of which it has already identified several potential sources of capital." - Oncolin Therapeutics

"Renewable energy will be a major focus for America for the foreseeable future as it tries to gain energy independence and the U.S. government has made it a priority to develop these renewable energy sources by committing approximately $20 billion to this sector as part of the new Stimulus Package. In addition, with the recent significant drop in oil & gas prices the company will also evaluate acquiring traditional oil & gas assets that are revenue producing."

Investors, meanwhile, put $4.1 billion into 277 clean-tech start-ups in 2008, 52% more than 2007. Clean tech is said to be the only bright investment spot last year.

I once read a New York Times article on how some scientists from biotech drug companies are jumping ships to renewable and clean tech firms since some of the green tech developments are utilizing the same biotech tools. Unfortunately, I had a hard time googling that article. Anybody who came across that article and send the link to me, I'm much obliged.

Debates have been ongoing if government green geared stimulus plans worldwide can really address not only the issue of climate change but help lift sinking economies.

With the current recession, isn't it more risky to address climate change when it could cost more money for businesses?

In the video below, economist Nicholas Stern talked to consulting firm McKinsey on how we should move fast in addressing climate change and therefore help the economy as well by making green investments.

"I think that they [economic and climate crises] do come together," said Stern. "They come together for a number of reasons. They come together because we should be understanding how we got ourselves into this difficulty in the economic crisis. It was by ignoring risk. It was by not understanding what was going on. It was by postponing action."

"There are bound to be people whose activities are threatened by these kinds of policies. Now, the answer to that is to be constructive: to help with carbon capture and storage through markets for carbon; to promote development activities which do not put such pressure on the forests; to promote the retooling of the car industry so that the less-polluting cars become cheaper to produce, and the demand for those cars starts to appear."

"If we're getting our energy from renewable sources, then all the people that are working in those industries, they'll benefit, but all the people working in the 'brown' jobs, they're going to be hurt"

Two big green chemistry developments today are both from enzyme producers DSM and Genencor.

Netherlands-based DSM and French starch derivatives producer Roquette said that their bio-based succinic acid demo plant in Lestrem (France) will be operational by the end of 2009. Succinic acid is a chemical building block used in the manufacture of polymers, resins, food and pharmaceuticals (among other products).

The companies still plan to have a full commercial industrial production in 2011/2012.

Meanwhile, Genencor - a division of Danisco - says it begun delivering its bioisoprene to the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The two companies collaborate on designing an integrated production system for BioIsoprene™ product, and said that they are on schedule to meet both technological and commercial milestones within the agreement. Commercial availability of the product is planned for 2013.

Traditional isoprene is used for the production of synthetic rubber for tire manufacture as well as a wide range of products, such as surgical gloves, golf balls and adhesives.

A lot of green news came out last week and I had to weed them out to 6. Interesting enough is that a lot of them are about new investments amid the current tight chemical company budgets.

On other news, there are continuous debate going on regarding the Obama administration's carbon emission plans as well as a vocal "No We Can't" from various business and manufacturing groups on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) plan to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

You can read more about EPA's move in Joe Kamalick's February 26 Insight article on ICIS (subscription required). If you want information for free, here are this week's green news:

Epoxy boost from wind
Hexion Specialty Chemicals will build a new epoxy resin production facility in Esslingen, Germany, which are vital materials used in the production of windmill blades for the wind energy market. Hexion says it is one of the leading global suppliers of specialty epoxy resin systems to the wind energy market.

Canadian biotech funding
Biotech company Performance Plants Inc. (PPI) will receive up to $5,565,063 in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada, which will be used to advance PPI's trait technologies that improve conversion of cellulose into cost-effective biofuels and biochemicals.

A report from the Decatur, Illinois newspaper Herald & Review said that Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will delay some of the completion dates for their biobased industrial projects but will still invest $2.6bn in seven major capital projects.

ADM is reportedly proceeding with the construction of its 100,000 ton/year glycerine-based propylene/ethylene glycol plant in Decatur which was previously expected to be finished late last year. The facility is now expected to be completed in the fourth quarter this year.

By the way, Cargill and Dow Chemicals are supposed to be in the midst of constructing glycerine-based PG and EG facilities as well. I wonder how these two projects are progressing now that petroleum-based chemicals prices have come down (and cash is tight)??

Back to ADM: In Clinton, Iowa, the company's planned 110 million pound/year bioplastic facility with Metabolix is expected to start producing in second quarter this year. The facility will produced corn-based polyhydroxy alkanoate (PHA) plastic to be marketed under the Mirel brand. Start-up of the facility was previously targeted last year as well.

Herald & Review also mentioned two ethanol plants and two cogeneration plants in Nebraska and Iowa, and a cocoa facility in Pennsylvania. Completion of these plants' constructions are said to be expected within the next two years.

[Photo of the Mirel Clinton, Iowa plant]

If anybody wants to enter the wind turbine sector, maybe you'd want to familiarize yourself with who's leading the global market.

According to Emerging Energy Research (EER), there is plenty of room to spare for wind turbine manufacturer wannabes because of high demand and supply chain backlogs. The current turbine market is dominated by Vestas, GE, Gamesa, Enercon, Suzlon and Siemens accounting for 70% of the market's turbine installation last year. New competitors that make inroad last year include Sinovel, Dongfang and Clipper, according to the consulting firm.

The battle for wind is expected to intensify this year as local suppliers in the US and China ramp up production while the current recession is expected to slow down investments, says EER research director Keith Hays. Last year's turbine installation totals to 11 gigawatt more than in 2007, and activated turbines was said to be at 30 gigawatt, almost double the volume compared in 2006.

"Newer entrants gained the most market share in 2008, while established players generally maintained or lost between 0.5% and 2% market share of total MW installed," says EER. "Increasing market fragmentation in 2008--coupled with construction delays in 2009 due to the global financial crisis--points to an intense market share battle in 2009-2010 as more firms fight for fewer orders."

Here are their shares in last years installed wind turbine market:

As previously mentioned, Elevance hosted a green chemistry round table last month where panelists try to figure out the benefits, challenges and future of this burgeoning industry. My report on this is going to be published next week Monday on ICIS Chemical Business. Next week's issue will also my feature my report about trends on green buildings and how the construction chemicals market is benefiting from this amid the current recession.

For now you can access my full report on Elevance's green chemistry round table from ICIS.com's website. If you don't want your fingers to get tired from too much clicking, you can read my initial intake on that meeting from the cut-and-paste ICIS news below (which I hope will not get me into trouble):

DuPont's renewable-source Hytrel® RS thermoplastic elastomers can now be found in this ski boots made by sports gear manufacturer Salomon. DuPont said the ski boots is one of the first commercial use of their plastic, which are made using vegetable oil-based polyol. The renewable-based content of the elastomer used in the boot is said to be 27% by weight (hey no greenwashing here!).

DuPont's Hytrel® RS thermoplastic elastomers are said to contain between 20% and 60% renewably-sourced material depending on the application. The company pointed out that the boot's impact resistance and flexibility at low temperatures is comparable to the traditional performance characteristics of their Hytrel line that are not made with renewable-based polyols.

Salomon confirmed that the renewable-based elastomer can be easily moulded and processed by conventional thermoplastic methods.

With this kind of green and gorgeous boots, it makes me (almost) want to learn how to ski!

Thanks to Environmental Economics for unearthing this Saturday Night Live (SNL) 2006 skit. I always thought that SNL should be a mandatory show for bankers, investors and excessive consumers. Oh, and for chemical companies too (Hint: Dow and Rohm and Haas, Hexion and Huntsman) Watch and learn people! If you want to live in a sustainable world, Dont.Buy. Stuff. You Can't. Afford.

You got fat-free, lactose-free, lite, skim, flavored and soon..light-weight milk.

This technology is actually targeted more for bottled milk producers (and suppliers/distributors) rather than milk consumers. BASF said it has developed the world's lightest half-liter polystyrene bottle specifically geared for milk product containers because of the special properties of the plastic - maybe the acid in orange juice will melt the bottle???

BASF said it was successful in producing the 7.5 gram bottle from a conventional stretch blow-molding machine. As all green people now know, less weight translates to lesser raw material consumption, less energy to transport, lesser waste and sometimes lower product costs.

I do wonder if that new polystyrene will have a slightly premium price than the traditional PS. Will that premium be absorbed by milk distributors and not pass on to consumers?

After their coal fly ash spill in December, maybe Tennessee Valley Authority should contact our good friends from Nalco regarding the company's development of fly ash application as a cement substitute.

Nalco's subsidiary Nalco Mobotec recently announced a joint venture deal with Canada-based SONIC Technology Solutions to expand the use of fly ash from coal-powered stations as a cement substitute or concrete additive.

Nalco said SONIC's SonoAsh process can turn low-grade waste fly ash into a valuable high-grade product with carbon credits for both the electric utility and cement industries.

Around 65% of North America's fly ash is said to be unacceptable for use in the cement industry and just ends up in landfill. Not only will SONIC's technology reduce landfill waste but it will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the cement industry.

Production of cement, which is very energy intensive, is said to contribute 7% global carbon dioxide emissions. Global cement demand, according to Nalco, approaches 3 billion tons/year and has grown rapidly in recent years.

We've heard about the White House's plan to implement a carbon cap and trade (C&T) system under the EPA's proposed budget, and that has produced a flurry of mixed reactions, debate and economic implication forecasts.

I will try my best to understand some of this studies as trying to learn how the C&T system works sometimes makes my head spin.

According to consulting firm Point Carbon, the numbers crunched by White House's Office of Management and Budget for a carbon cap program is unrealistic and its estimated price for carbon allowances not reflecting the market's real price.

President Obama's budget presumes a price for US carbon allowances at $13.70 in 2012. Presently, European Union Allowances (EUAs) are priced at €10.50 (US $13.35), according to Point Carbon.

"A carbon price of $13 per ton would produce an increase in the cost of gasoline of $0.12 per gallon, a six percent increase over current retail gasoline prices," said Point Carbon. "This would also result in a 6.8% increase for average retail electricity rates although more coal heavy regions might see higher increases."

According to energy and carbon information provider ICIS Heren, European energy traders are pegging the probable price of US carbon allowances around $11-$14/ton. ICIS Heren also noted that it might be unlikely that a proposed US emissions bill will pass before December this year.

"However, the 'unusually detailed proposal', as the newspaper Chicago Tribute pointed out, indicates that Obama would be less willing to change his climate change policies than he would be in areas where the budget is less specific like healthcare," said ICIS Heren.

I mentioned last month about the development of biobutanol in fuel application. Butanol is currently being used as an industrial solvent and most of it is produced via petrochemical processing. According to industry sources, fermented butanol is only currently sparsely being produced in China. Biobutanol has not been commercially applied as a fuel as of yet.

I got interested in biobutanol development when I heard DuPont and BP are working on this for fuel application. Apparently, biobutanol is said to be much better than bioethanol as a fuel because it packs more energy per gallon, it can be transported in existing pipelines, easier to mix with gasoline and can even be used alone in internal combustion engines, and most of all, it can be managed in the existing gasoline distribution network - why is the main challenge for fuel ethanol suppliers.

Along my research, I encountered several more companies working on developing a more cost-efficient biobutanol production both for fuel and chemical applications: US start-up firm Cobalt Biofuels, Gevo Inc., and Tetravitae Bioscience; UK biotech company Green Biologics; and French biotech firm Metabolic Explorer.

I was able to talk to Cobalt, Gevo and Green Biologics as well as Nexant biofuels consultant Ron Cascone. As usual, DuPont ignored my request.

According to Cascone, he expects commercialization of these incoming biobutanol developments within the next 4-5 years. Of course market acceptance of biobutanol as a fuel will still depend on car manufacturers. I doubt consumers even know of its existence.

According to Cobalt, Gevo and Green Biologics, their biobutanol products are geared first to compete in chemical applications before going to the fuel sector since biobutanol as a chemical product has a price premium of about 3x that of the price of ethanol. Most of the companies developing biobutanol are already planning to build their demo plant.

You can check out more information on biobutanol development in ICIS Chemical Business' March 2 Biofuels issue.

[Photo of Green Biologics' team at its UK lab.]

On a lighter news, if you want your meat to have lesser carbon footprint, find out if the pork you're eating comes from a swine barn sprayed with soybean oil.

You heard it right. Not only is soybean oil being used to make your pork deliciously fried, it can also address dust and odor problems within hog facilities. In a study conducted by Purdue University and University of Missouri researchers, soybean oil-treated swine barn showed an average 20% decrease in methane emissions and a 19% average reduction in carbon dioxide emissions during a 12-month period.

The treated barn emitted about 65 percent less particulate matter than the untreated barn. Researchers suspected controlling dust also would lead to reduced greenhouse gas escapes.

Some of the challenges using soybean oil in treating swine barn are costs, clean-up process which is said to be more difficult (and more expensive), and other minor technical difficulties, which the researchers said can be overcome with good engineering.

Apparently, more research is still needed to make it economically feasible.

Here's an op-ed from US Vice President Joe Biden about the need for green stimulus package in Philadelphia Inquirer.

The VP said the economic-recovery package that President Obama signed into law more than a week ago contains over $20 billion for investment in a cleaner, greener economy, including $500 million for green job training. He noted that green jobs will help build a strong middle class, which is America's economic engine.

"Green jobs pay 10 to 20 percent more than other jobs," said vice president Biden. "They also are more likely to be union jobs. Building a new power grid, manufacturing solar panels, weatherizing homes and office buildings, and renovating schools are just a few of the ways to create high-quality green jobs that strengthen the foundation of this country."

According to the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the advanced biofuel industry can (directly and indirectly) create more than 100,000 jobs by 2012 and more than 800,000 by 2022. Around 43,500 jobs by 2012 would be from the farm sector and 4,800 jobs from R&D by 2016.

If advanced biofuel production will be increased to 45 billion gallons/year by 2030, BIO estimates that more than 400,000 jobs will be created within the industry by that time frame.

Here's an estimated job creation scenario by BIO:

• Agriculture - 88,400 new jobs under RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard) plan of 21 billion gal/year by 2022. Around 267,000 under 45 billion gal/year 2030 scenario.

• Construction - 60,000 new jobs under both RFS scenario

• Processing - 20,000/42,500 new jobs
  

• Transportation - 2,000/11,300 new jobs

Do you think these projections are feasible???

I have so many news on draft that it might take a while to post all of them so for those who sent me their press releases and interesting stories, please bear with me.

For now, here is an interesting update on the coal ash spill in Tennessee, which happened on December 22, 2008. A failed dike at Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Kingston Fossil plant caused a released of about 5.4 million cubic yards of coal fly ash that now cover about 300 acres mostly TVA's property.

Of course the nearby Roane County is concerned. Who wouldn't be?? Fly ash could contain levels of harmful metals such as arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, chromium VI, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

So the law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg is right on the scene and filed an environmental lawsuit against TVA on behalf of 109 citizens in Roane County and surrounding areas.

Here are some of the new green chemicals launched in February. The enzymes market seems to be churning a lot for the cellulosic ethanol industry.

1. Polyone BPA-free compound - PolyOne unveiled its first commercial compounds made with Eastman Tritan(TM) copolyester. The compounds are free of bisphenol-A and said to provide numerous processing advantages as compared with other transparent polymers.

2. Florida Tire Recycling - Florida Tire Recycling Inc. launched its Closed-Loop Product Lifecycle Solution program designed to recycle, reuse and reclaim 100% of discard waste tires.

3. Cognis green solution - Cognis launched several new green chemical products at the European Coatings Show 2009 that include new "green" defoamers, new highly efficient rheology modifiers, "green" dispersing agents, and a natural oil-based coalescent for water-based coatings.

4. Genencor textile enzyme - Genencor introduces PrimaGreen® EcoFade LT100, a ready-to-use enzyme product for denim bleaching and shading. The enzyme enables bleaching at neutral pH and low temperature, providing savings in rinsing water, neutralization chemicals, and savings in energy.

5. Colonial Chemical green surfactant - Colonial Chemical introduced Suga®Det APG-10, a naturally derived alkyl polyglucoside material that can be used in a variety of cleaning formulations where extreme pH and high concentrations of electrolytes exist.

6. Genencor ethanol enzyme - Genencor launched Accellerase® 1500, the next generation of its cellulosic ethanol enzyme product. The enzyme will lower one of the major cost hurdles to producing ethanol or biochemicals from cellulosic feedstocks, such as corn stover, sugarcane bagasse, wood chips, wheat straw, and switchgrass.

March is here and New York City will be 12 in. deep in snow today after the South got blasted by rare snowstorm on Sunday. Climate change anyone???

By the way, I hope you all like the new blog layout. Hopefully it'll get better with more features (such as blog links) in the future. For now here is this week's news roundup:

CO2 capture pilot plant
Siemens and E.ON Kraftwerke are to build a pilot CO2 capture plant at the E.ON power plant Staudinger in Grosskrotzenburg, Germany. The pilot plant is scheduled to start operation in the summer of 2009.

Zeachem's biorefinery
ZeaChem Inc. selected CH2M HILL as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contractor for its first biorefinery. Set to begin construction in 2009, the biorefinery is slated for a proposed site in Boardman, Oregon.

I've been trying to avoid politics as I'm getting tired of hearing about bailouts, stimulus package and White House budget on all newspapers, internet, TV, radio, etc.

But that's just me.

For work-related purposes, here's what's going on in Washington that will affect the clean technology industry and maybe even green chemistry R&D within the next several years.

In President Obama's proposed budget that came out last week, he promised to increase funding on renewable energy projects, some, in the expense of greenhouse gas emitters, oil companies and toxic chemical spillers. Specific details were not put out yet until the president's final proposal in April.

Under the Department of Energy's proposed budget, funding will increased on renewable energy production primarily from tax breaks and loan guarantees. The budget also increases funding for energy conservation in government buildings and private homes as well as provide more money for cleaner coal-fired power plants, and to transform the country's aging electric grid.

For the Department of Interior's budget, increased funding is expected for park maintenance, protection of endangered species, assessing climate change impacts on fish and wildlife, and over $50m investments for renewable energy projects promotion.

It also proposes a new excise tax on offshore oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico beginning 2011, terminating payments to coal-producing States that no longer need funds to clean up abandoned coal mines, and increasing fees, royalties and rates to oil companies for processing oil and gas drilling permits on Federal lands.