Biobased building blocks: an update
Biobased chemical building blocks go through a difficult phase: with falling crude oil prices over the past years, these chemicals had a hard time to remain competitive to fossil-based chemicals. Nevertheless, a nova Institute report predicted an 8% p.a. growth across the board for them in the five years to come. Last month, nova Institute
We proudly present… More with Less
For us, April 21st was a day to remember. A month ahead of schedule we presented our new book: More with Less, welcome to the Precision Economy. The scene was a conference in Groningen where the latest results of modern research on carbohydrate chemistry were presented. A scene where the major players in the Dutch
Precision, the hallmark of a new era
An era comes to an end. Ever since the start of the industrial revolution, mankind could only produce more, using more. Produce more food from more land. Produce more consumer goods from more resources, processing more ore that required more land to mine it. Using ever more fossil fuels, shipped in ever growing quantities to
A common sense energy scenario. Part 1: global energy consumption
Two factors are underrated again and again in energy policy: the potential of better energy efficiency (check here) and that of renewable energy. In Paris, world leaders have affirmed their intention to restrict global warming to 2 oC or less. In order for this to become true, global energy consumption needs to level off and
PHA business case still shaky
Last week, we wrote about the versatile and biodegradable plastic PHA. The Dutch Platform Agro-Chemistry-Paper reacted to it: could you also highlight the pitfalls? Do you recognise the danger that most Dutch PHA projects start from waste as a feedstock, whereas there is no market demand for a product with such a background? In other
Biorenewables key to reduce CO2 emissions, says macroeconomic study
The launch of a new macroeconomic scenario study marked the opening of the ECO-BIO conference in Rotterdam today. Biorenewables fulfil a key role in climate policy and in future economic development, says the LEI/Copernicus report, concentrating on the Netherlands. In the words of Luuk van der Wielen (Director BE-Basic, one of the supporting organisations): ‘The
Breeders’ rights, patents and genetic modification
European seed companies are worried about the future. The existing sector – particularly in the Netherlands, Germany and France – is founded upon plant breeders’ rights, but the patent system is gaining the upper hand. TTIP (the coming trade agreement between the EU and the US) could tip the balance towards patents. This is a
Bioeconomy: much more employment in biobased chemicals than in biofuels
More than once, we devoted our attention to the negative impact of biofuels policy on the biobased chemical industry. New calculations by Nova Institute now show that in the bioeconomy, biobased chemicals production leads to much more employment than biofuel production. Whereas both reduce CO2 emissions. Europe, what’s on your mind? Biofuels and biobased chemicals
