In3 BioRenewables Focus

Why BioRenewable, Sustainable, Clean Technologies?

 

Biorenewable, sustainable technologies underpin diverse products and services that often deliver superior performance at lower costs, greatly reduce or eliminate environmental impacts and, in doing so, improve and protect quality of life and life-sustaining ecosystems. From bioderived industrial materials such as bioplastics to biopesticides and biofuels, these environmentally sound or socially responsive solutions "ensure our collective future." They also happen to be fiercely competitive and often extremely profitable.

Why BioRenewables?

The advantages of renewable source materials:

(1) we can increase the supply to meet the demand with creating dependencies,

(2) they tend to be cleaner, safer, and more energy-efficient to produce (e.g., some bioplastics require 60-70% less energy, most renewable raw materials can be formulated into finished products in adherence to the 12 princples of Green Chemistry),

(3) the entire raw materials can be used with no toxic or waste byproduct,

(4) they're less subject to price shocks and geopolitical instability (you can grow them close to where they will be used), and

(5) there is often a reasonable, cost-effective, environmentally-responsble disposal option at the end of a product's useful life.

Successful sustainable enterprises focus on using existing market forces to introduce new traditions in business: economically viable and environmentally sustainable products and services, the sharply increasing market demand for such products and services, and the business talent to carry it off.

The emergence of new, breakthrough biorenewable technologies into the commercial arena, many of which are described and profiled on this website, shifts the playing field and gradually "inspires" other organizations to proactively address their environmental risk factors. This is what a sustainable or "biorenewable economy" has in common with the current, global economy: both must generate profit. The difference in a sustainable economy is that the actions and decisions are based on values that include a more precise and authentic accounting of environmental and social impacts.

In other words, BioRerenewable technology ventures are strong businesses in their own right that also happen to deliver environmental and/or social benefits. "Profit, people, and the planet" can indeed fit together synergistically and sustainably when we include them in our design intentions and success criteria.

By contrast, "green" or even "clean" technology can be implemented in ways that are ultimately unsustainable (for example, unprofitable because their design, deliver or business model is more expensive than the market will bear, or that cause unforeseen problems while, with good intentions, trying to "save the planet"). This is indeed the case with corn ethanol, which benefits the producers (and ADM) but is not sufficiently innovative to disrupt let alone help with the price of gasoline, but just as problematic, studies now show that there is no net CO2 reduction from convention technologies that use corn.

To us, "sustainable" is consistent with "good business" that provides dramatic, lasting benefits to all stakeholders and partners. Otherwise, why do it?

A practical definition of "sustainability" is securing people's quality of life within the means of nature. (For a scientific view of sustainability, visit The Natural Step's website, www.naturalstep.org or watch one of their videos.)

How is Sustainability now basic Common Sense?

Often we recognize an opportunity from correcting the mistaken assumptions of others. Take the example of manufacturing ozone-depleting gases (halons and chloro-fluoro-carbons, or CFCs), commonly used in air conditioning and refrigeration systems during the 70s and 80s. Conversion to a more sustainable alternative was expensive and difficult for those invested in manufacturing or using these chemicals. Or, similarly, the early solar water heaters and bulky solar panels from the same era: they have not yet been profitable to investors or affordable to consumers without government assistance.

Although there were and still are real benefits to consumers who invest in alternative sources of energy (e.g., decentralization means availability in remote areas, the peace of mind that comes from using a "clean & green" alternative ...), as an investment, the economics did not work. That reality is changing. Just as the tobacco industry has fallen down, oil stocks will continue to fluctuate and flatten as renewable energy sources gain strength (view Renewable Energy overview).

At a minimum, smart investors will ensure that the ventures they back do not have such "non-sustainable" drawbacks in the long run - and in some cases, investors can instead play an active role in using our systems of commerce to restore and replenish our natural environment while making a healthy profit. Socially responsive and environmentally-sound solutions are arriving in the commercial market, their number and viability increasing all the time. Today's new biorenewable technologies must be sustainable (socially responsive and restorative -- or at least environmentally benign) and successful investors look at these new technologies with renewed hope for a future that puts our current environmental risk factors happily behind us. Better yet, set our sites on a restorative economy, not just one that we can keep afloat.

Renewable Energy	Renewable Materials	BioPharma / Life Sciences	Water	BioLubricants, Cleaners & Solvents

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