‘Often, sustainability is not merely better, but cheaper too. Sustainable technologies lend themselves to local systems with far lesser control costs. That is the basis for a technological transition with which the earth can feed as many as ten billion … Read more
Pharmafilter is a Dutch company that has developed a new and sustainable system for processing hospital waste. It produces devices like bed-pans and urinals from a biobased and biodegradable plastic; these can be ground after single use, and processed in … Read more
If plans work out as projected, Sardinia’s new Matrìca plant in Porto Torres might show the way into a new industrial future for the whole of Europe. The Matrìca project, sized € 500 million, will turn the site of an … Read more
Most people, when talking about a sustainable future for Europe, think in terms of energy supply. That is one-sided. It is true: the energy conflict still deepens, as the incumbent powers start to be challenged just recently, forty years after … Read more
We are right in the middle of the most radical transition that our society can go through: that of a centralistic, fossil-fuelled society to a much more decentralised society mainly on the basis of local resources. Different observers, dependent on … Read more
In fifty years’ time, technology has changed from the bogeyman to the saviour of mankind. Large-scale and energy intensive processes used to be the pinnacle of technology, producing much collateral damage that was merrily cleaned up afterwards (it was all … Read more
The Dutch agricultural sector has one major problem: an excess of manure production as a consequence of the large livestock population. Dutch livestock farming depends on major imports of soy and other crops for fodder production. ‘At the end of … Read more
Human error is the label stuck on accidents that cannot be directly explained by the failure of a device, be it mechanical, electric or electronic. But the other side of such errors might well be the variation in the way … Read more
Biobased resources and biochemical processes will change the appearance of chemical industry. Changes may occur in scale and in location. There will be a tendency towards a smaller scale. But know-how, the skill of process operators, might become an important … Read more
The recent report ‘Strategy for a green society’ (in Dutch) of the Scientific and Technological Committee for the biobased economy (WTC) puts an emphasis on biobased materials. Biobased materials are the driving force for the biobased economy, according to the … Read more
Sorry, we publish this article in Dutch only.
Sustainable supply chains are of great importance for the biobased economy, in terms of environmental conditions and respect for biodiversity, and also on issues of improving working conditions and farmers’ incomes. In recent years, many labels have been created for … Read more
‘The unique feature of our centre is the cooperation with the excellent plant science and green chemistry centres in our University,’ says Joe Ross, Director of the Biorenewables Development Centre in York (UK). ‘Building upon the strong agricultural tradition in … Read more
Europe’s biofuel policy has been reformulated earlier this year, in order to promote the development of second-generation biofuels. But this seems to have little effect: whereas second-generation biofuels from food wastes are indeed being produced in Europe, there is just … Read more
At EFIB, it was a surprise to me as a Dutchman, living in a country where agriculture is mainly about food crops, to learn that wood biorefinery is important in the developing biobased economy of the Nordic countries. As was … Read more
Policy makers who aim to stimulate innovation, in the biobased economy for instance, sometimes exaggerate the importance of higher education. But getting innovations to be successful in pratice is highly dependent on skills that students learn in secondary and higher … Read more
Flax and hemp are making a comeback. Many new products contain these fibres. ‘But the growth does not yet entail large volumes,’ says David Kasse, an agricultural engineer in the Dutch farmers’ association. Flax and hemp are as old as … Read more
Even though countries differ appreciably in culture, everywhere in the world farmers growing wet crops organise in cooperative organisations. That will not be different in the biobased economy. On the contrary: such cooperatives, well rooted in their regional communities, will … Read more
On August 18, we started a discussion on the development towards a smaller scale in the biobased economy. We continued this discussion in a LinkedIn group connected to www.biobasedeconomy.nl. What was the outcome of this discussion? The reason why we … Read more
Entering the hall of the Dutch potato cooperative AVEBE, one’s attention is immediately drawn to a large pane of stained glass, showing all products once produced from the potato, one hundred years ago. Building and pane belonged to ScholtenHonig, later … Read more
Corporate strategies are a shaky basis for getting society on a sustainable track. They may change, if other strategies would incur more profit. The green CEO may be replaced by a more traditional one. The company may be acquired by … Read more
Processing side streams to full-quality human food, that would be the ultimate people, planet and profit project. Veggiefiber does the trick; products with these fibres will gradually come to the market. Veggiefiber is a new project of the Provalor group. … Read more
A week after IPCC’s publication of the summary of its latest report, EFIB started, the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology. We feel that sustainability is an important driving force for the biobased economy, and hence we wondered how biotechnological companies … Read more
At the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology (EFIB) this week, the stall of the Biorenewables Development Centre served freshly pressed orange juice. At the front of the stall, a large bin with orange peel attracted the attention of the visitor. … Read more
The policy in support for biobased energy proves to be an obstacle to better applications of biomass, in the view of BioBTX and KNN, two Groningen based companies. This policy drives upward the price of biomass, to the detriment of … Read more
Subsidies play a difficult but unavoidable part in the stimulation of new technologies. With subsidies, new and superior technologies can compete with incumbent technologies. Subsidies protect them temporarily from the chilly force of the market. But subsidies, so it appears, … Read more
Last month, the Danish ombudsman spoke out against Coca-Cola. His verdict amounted to the assertion that the soft drink bottling company had greenwashed the plant bottle: suggested matters to be greener than they were. The company hardly reacted. The project … Read more
Whereas many biotechnological companies pursue patents that allow them to valorise their knowledge, the US Supreme Court recently ruled that DNA sequences in nature (or parts thereof) are not patentable as such. This requires the biotech community to rethink the … Read more
Many researchers claim that the biobased economy will be organised at a smaller scale than the present economy. On this website we held the same opinion. Chemical plants would become smaller, and located more closely to their feedstock supplier (agriculture). … Read more
Plants contain many valuable compounds, even in parts usually discarded after the harvest. For instance, waste products from growing paprika (discarded fruit, leaves, binding materials) contain many carbohydrates, sugars and valuable micronutrients like colouring agents, vitamins and antioxidants. The Dutch … Read more
Juiciness, that was the missing element in this week’s synthetic burger. But hopes are high. Within twenty years we will all have the opportunity to buy a burger that did not cost a cow’s life. However, we can do just … Read more
The price of crude oil has risen to a level at which it will transform the fuels landscape, says Lux Research, an American advisory group. In the United States, this process is accelerated by the emergence of cheap and abundant … Read more
European plastics manufacturers have joined NGOs in their stand for an EU-wide ban on the disposal of plastics in landfills. They argue that Europe needs tougher recycling requirements to stop an important raw material from being thrown away, and see … Read more
Sorry, we publish this column on Dutch energy policy only in Dutch.
The Bergen op Zoom region, in the Southwestern part of the Netherlands, is the centre of the new green economy – for those who did not know yet. They have it all: strong agrofood industries, a strong agricultural sector with … Read more
Willem Sederel, manager of the Biobased Delta, situated in the South-western part of the Netherlands, shows no doubt as he indicates the biobased economy as the prime development model for the future green industry. But he also says: ‘We are … Read more
Piezoelectricity is on the rise. Piezoelectric cells produce electricity from vibrations, or conversely vibrations from electricity. The former is relevant for energy harvesting, for our world increasingly needs the small powers that can be produced by piezoelectric generators – in … Read more
Sustainability – here to stay, or the issue of the day? We think it is here to stay. All the more important to be very critical about sustainability, and the meaning attributed to it by stakeholders. Do you remember how … Read more
Use of biomass feedstock for chemicals and biofuels? The food/fuel discussion is very polarised. But a number of parties have come forward that seek a middle ground in this debate. They point out that industrial use of first generation (edible) … Read more
The Western European food chain is very inefficient, says Johan Sanders, professor ‘biobased commodity chemicals’ at Wageningen UR. We could greatly reduce imports, mainly of soy, by improving efficiency. ‘Each Western European consumes 2 500 kcal a day. But our … Read more
‘The biobased economy is based on another logic than the existing economy,’ says Johan Sanders. ‘And many problems in the transition to a biobased economy arise from the fact that people find it hard to think according to that new … Read more
A happy man, Barend Verachtert called himself, head of the unit Biotechnology of DG Research & Innovation of the European Commission. Friday 17 May 2013, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, the administrative negotiations on the innovation program BRIDGE had … Read more
Plexiglas emits 2½ kilos of CO2 per kilogram of product, Geo and I find. We looked it up on the internet. Glass is much less CO2-efficient, 8.4 kilos of CO2 per kilogram of glass. Unless one uses recycled glass, then … Read more
Old patterns are pervasive in the perception of sustainability. Motor car journalists do not like the Toyota Prius, not because it would be a bad car, but because it has been introduced in the market on the basis of its … Read more
Generals always seem to be engaged in winning the last war; likewise, the recently installed Dutch Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI), has issued a report on yesterday’s problems. The subject is the conflict between sustainability and agriculture. The … Read more
Seaweed is an attractive and relatively unknown source of food, feed and chemicals. Growing seaweed needs no land, and therefore it does not compete with other forms of food production. It does not require land based transport. Seaweed contains very … Read more
There is a firm trend for centralization in decision making in our society. National governments increase their power at the expense of communities and counties; and Europe acts for more ‘harmonization’ of national regulation. As a result of this process, … Read more
Even though our highly technological society is vulnerable, this state of affairs is not much addressed by politics or societal debate. And vulnerable we are indeed. Think of the millennium bug. We depend completely on infrastructures on a regional, national … Read more
Five years after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, nothing has been done yet on the set of measures which were thought to be essential at the time; measures which boil down to reinstalling the protection of financial markets, installed after the … Read more
A room in the Chemical Lab of Groningen University (RUG) hosts a revolutionary test equipment. It produces bioBTX through chemical catalysis. This is a mixture of benzene, toluene and xylene, identical to the BTX produced from crude oil refinery. A … Read more