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
In Brussels, civil servants are in the middle of a major project: the revision of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. The future of the biobased economy is heavily dependent on the smart design of this policy. It is of major … Read more
Sustainability is growing in importance for the biobased economy, says Patricia Osseweijer. She is a professor in Science Communication at Delft Technical University, and she heads among others the Biotechnology and Society research group. The growing importance of sustainability shows, … Read more
Biomass has a fundamental problem for use in the energy sector. There is not enough of it, and it is too expensive. Fossil industry emits 35 Gton CO2 around the globe each year. Agriculture captures 7 Gton CO2 per year. … Read more
This column has nothing to do with the biobased society. It springs from my participation in an academic discussion. The subject: a philosophical inquiry into scientific explanations; forty years ago, I graduated on that subject. And this column originates from … Read more
‘I expect artificial photosynthesis to be fully operational in 2050; by that time it will be the backbone of energy supply,’ says Huub de Groot, professor in biophysical organic chemistry at Leiden University. ‘We know from experience that a new … Read more
Whereas silicon wafer based PV technology keeps improving and production costs of PV electricity keeps falling, thin film PV is on its way to develop as a mass product as well. Most experts judge that thin film solar cells will … Read more
Sorry, this column on the seventh Dutch biobased economy network meeting in Breda, is only available in Dutch.
The very moment Kenneth Epstein, an American venture capitalist, proved by solid data that the biobased economy in the United States is waning, a Reuters message arrived in our e-mail, unfolding a much more optimistic view. In both stories shale … Read more
Canada and China are about to sign a trade agreement which would allow China to develop tar sands in Alberta in exchange for enhanced protection of Canadian companies in China. The draft agreement is the subject of a heated debate, … Read more
Climate change is going to disrupt society, that is for sure, says Paul Gilding. We cannot avert disaster any more, as mankind in its stupidity does much too little about climate change. Until it is too late and disruption will … Read more
‘The unsuccessful energy transition stands in the way of the biobased economy,’ says Jan Rotmans. ‘Whereas the energy sector is going to disappear. In the future transition, the chemical sector will take its energy supply in its own hands. Above … Read more
I had looked forward intently to the report that Oxfam in the Netherlands (Oxfam Novib) would publish on 26 November, which would justify its campaign against European biofuel policies. They said, this would ‘conclude clearly’ that the economic and political … Read more
It was a wonderful reunion, Forty years of wind power in the Netherlands, organized by Chris Westra, the man whose self-built wind turbine in 1972 marked the beginning of an upsurge of sustainable energy. Many stories about the past forty … Read more
Most posters against shale gas have disappeared from the streets and the municipal poster sites. Some cars still show them. But resistance has not faded away. Earlier articles on shale gas appeared on 12 July, 9 September, 17 September and … Read more
In two columns on this site I went into the food/fuel problem. Oxfam reacted to my first piece. But they did not answer some pressing questions. Therefore, once more the food/fuel problem and Oxfam’s position. This article appears as Oxfam … Read more
Recent food price increases have fuelled a new round in the food/fuel debate. They have had a major influence on EU policies, putting a halt to ambitious renewable fuel targets for 2020. But often, the arguments used in the food/fuel … Read more
Oxfam working paper 161, entitled ‘The hunger grains’ has had a profound influence on the EU decision to scrap its stricter biofuels mandate for year 2020. But this influence is deplorable: the evidence presented in the report would lead to … Read more
Certification. That was the common denominator in many contributions to the discussion in my group at the ‘Social aspects of bio-based chemicals’ meeting in Amsterdam, Friday 2 November. And cooperation. And the ambition to excel. The question was, what my … Read more
Sorry, this article is only available in Dutch.
In Denmark and Italy, Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, and Beta Renewables, a global leader in cellulosic biofuels and part of Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi, announced an agreement to jointly market, demonstrate and guarantee cellulosic biofuel solutions. … Read more
‘Wood is competitive for heating purposes, the alternative being natural gas (at the retail price for residential heating) or fuel oil,’ says Zwier van Olst. ‘District heating is an excellent market for locally produced wood. Recently, we agreed on a … Read more
Europe appears to be in a bad state. Poverty and unemployment are on the rise, the rich and the poor grow apart, the financial system is out of control. In the long run countries like China and India tend to … Read more
DSD BV (Dutch Sustainable Development BV) has made available online information about its Betaprocess, in Dutch, English, German and French. Betaprocess operates on the basis of vacuum extrusion, which rips apart biomass in a split second to a macromolecular level … Read more
‘We should again valorise the entire potato.’ In one sentence, AVEBE’s ambition in the biobased economy. In order to realize this goal, the corporation has many ideas for opportunities in research. ‘More than we can finance. We will have to … Read more
There will be more local self-supply or even autarky in the new world, for instance in energy systems. But whereas in the past, autarky equalled shortage and even poverty, in the future this will equal a high level of knowledge … Read more
Summing up, we arrive at our vision. New social patterns will be sustained by the development of new technologies, that will primarily promote local and regional economic growth. Sustainability is on its way to become a recognised corporate goal, because … Read more
It was a historic site, in café Landtmann in Vienna, where the European Liberal Forum had organized our debate on the green economy. Historic, not merely because the café exists from 1873 onwards, and because a large number of famous … Read more
Energy systems will revolutionise even more radically than industry. The price of solar cells has taken a dive. They are modular in makeup, i.e. they can be applied both on a small and a large scale. Everyone can mount them … Read more
This October, EuropaBio’s European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Biobased Economy (EFIB) brings together a panel of multinational CEOs to discuss the evolution of a world leading EU bioeconomy. The bioeconomy concept has never been higher on the EU … Read more
The biobased industry is going to alleviate the CO2 problem and create rural employment and development. Says Lars Hansen, President Region Europe of Novozymes, one of the main European companies in the development of the biobased economy. But Europe should … Read more
Novozymes envisages new biorefineries which can process any biobased feedstock into any desired product in a sustainable way. They will be able to process straw, municipal waste, pig farm or dairy waste etc. As outputs, they see ethanol, food, feed, … Read more
The environmental movement of the seventies, precursor to the present movement for sustainability, was largely anti-technological. Technology seemed to be inherently large-scale; it produced nuclear power stations and polluting chemical complexes. But technology has taken a turn into the opposite … Read more
Upon hearing the word bonobo, many (in particular intellectual males) exclaim: sex!, and they beam all over. Yes, it is true: sex is important in the life of the bonobo, much more so than in that of our other nearest … Read more
China’s 11th Five-Year Plan contains plans for development of the next generation of biomedical material applications, as the nation seeks to meet the growing demands of an aging population. Its declared goal, according to a Lux Research report China’s Expanding … Read more
We barely published an article intended to open up a discussion on the effect of cheap shale gas on the biobased economy ( September 2012), when Amory Lovins and Jon Creyts of the Rocky Mountain Institute published a column ‘Hot … Read more
Schuttelaar and Partners organise a political café in Nieuwspoort, The Hague, in the afternoon of 17 September. The theme is: ‘Biomass, boundlessly sustainable’. For details, we refer to the Dutch text.
Sustainability has been a topic for some time: for forty years (counting from the ‘Limits to Growth’ report), or even for fifty years (counting from Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’). During those years, it has moved from the periphery to the … Read more
Until quite recently, a few developments seemed to be clear, at least to the editors of this website. The economy would become more sustainable by finding alternatives for oil (over the peak), natural gas (source of international conflict), and coal … Read more
‘It is easier said than done, in discussions on the biobased economy, to return the minerals to the land. The question often overlooked is, whether the farmer needs them at that specific moment. That is the question we address in … Read more
In Europe we witness intensive social participation, coupled to increased self-confidence. People often decide to leave government and political parties aside. They seek and find each other in loose alliances, not heavily structured, in order to vent one’s indignation of … Read more
Mark Bünger, author of the recent Lux Research report on biochemicals and biomaterials (see the article on this site), holds the opinion that the viability of a green chemical industry is dependent upon many factors, which renders general judgements rather … Read more
There still are many obstacles on the road to a fully commercial green chemicals industry. That is the upshot of a study by Boston based Lux Research, ‘Pruning the Cost of Bio-Based Materials and Chemicals’ (also see the interview with … Read more
On August 17, 2012, BASF, Cargill and Novozymes signed an agreement to develop technologies to produce acrylic acid from renewable raw materials. Presently, acrylic acid is produced by the oxidation of propylene derived from the refining of crude oil. Novozymes … Read more
In recent years, males with megalomaniac ambitions have formed absurd conglomerates which require likewise absurd controls for their management. The tops of fantasy organisations that collapsed, carrying names thought up by advertising agencies (in the Netherlands InHolland, Amarantis and Vestia), … Read more
The recent report ‘Bioenergy, chances and limits’, by the German Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences, is the newest in a growing list of critical reports on bioenergy. On a macro level, the report prefers solar and wind energy to biomass … Read more