Policy Catalyst

As we make scientific and commercial advancements in bio-based energy and building materials we are witnessing an emerging market for "sustainable" and "bio-based" products. With these terms being thrown around the question is bound to come up: what does it mean to be sustainable or bio-based?

This question was recently raised at IREE's E3 conference. Among the numerous breakout sessions at E3 was a session on the challenges and opportunities of biopolymers, and among the panelist at this session was Cargill representative Yusuf Wazirzada. Wazirzada spoke about Cargill's BiOH, a soy-based polyol that is used to manufacture some of the foam found in furniture, carpeting, and automobiles. BiOH is one of the first examples of a bio-based product that has gone through the full product development cycle and is now available for purchase. While discussing his experience as a participant in this cutting-edge development process, Mr.Wazirzada referred to an experiment the BiOH team took part in to verify the bio-based claims of its product and its competitors. The experiment found that while BiOH lives up to its claims, being between 96% and 98% bio-based, its competitors fell quite short. One competing product, which claimed to be 20% bio-based, turned out to be 12% bio-based. A second product, labeled as having "high bio-content" was found to be only 1% bio-based.

With such mislabeling already underway we may quickly see the terms sustainable and bio-based lose their meaning. This linguistic diluting could be dangerous; it causes economic harm to those who manufacture truly sustainable or bio-based products and exploits the environmental concerns of customers. Before any more damage occurs we as a society need to stop and ask what the terms sustainable and bio-based mean. We need to define these terms and set standards for manufactures who wish to make sustainability and bio-based claims. And we need to do this now, before our new sustainable and bio-based market is flooded with products that are no different than those found in our old petroleum-based market.

The website for the Center for Sustainable Polymers can be found here.
You can join the Center for Sustainable Polymer's Facebook Group here.

The University of Minnesota's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment recently hosted its 6th annual E3 conference. This was a big event, and in the coming weeks I will make a number of specific posts about E3, but to start off I would like to share some personal reactions:

• E3 is Big - I know I already mentioned this, but it bears repeating. Approximately 750 people attended E3, and as they all sat in the large dining room of the RiverCentre, watching our internationally esteemed keynote speaker present on two giant projection screens, I couldn't help but think "wow, this is a big deal." It was only a few years ago that we faced the up-hill battle of just acknowledging that our energy system and environment are facing challenges. Yet, here we are, hot off of the heels of a major energy and environment conference that drew major figures from academia, industry, law, financing, and public policy. A friend of mine joked that we may soon hear that "the environment is a conspiracy by the man," and E3's keynote speaker, Dr. Lawrence Kazmerski, noted that the conference's size vindicated the work and concerns that he has built his career around. The environment is no longer a fringe subject, and I for one am relieved.
• E3 is Complicated - Size breeds complexity, and spending just a bit of time on the E3 floor allowed me to witness the complexity of the current environmental discussion. Can we develop sustainable ethanol and bio-polymer technologies? How much should we rely on biomass energy production? How will society respond to a shift from the oligarchy of the petroleum-based market to the distributed, farmer-centric market of biofuels? Underlying all of this is an assumption that society needs to greatly improve our agricultural output. I was glad to see a large audience, because we are going to need a lot of people sort this all out.
• Power Outages - The most poignant statement of the day was ultimately outside the influence of E3's speakers or planners. A power outage affecting the downtown St. Paul block around the RiverCentre struck just as Dr. Kazmerski began his keynote address, causing delays and rescheduling throughout the day. Xcel Energy was able to restore the power quickly, but by then everybody in attendance was already considering the irony of losing power at a conference about energy. Highlighting the elephant in the room, when Dr. Kazmerski was finally able to give his presentation he took a moment to talk about another source of complexity - we need investment in our energy distribution infrastructure.

The E3 website, which will soon include videos and recaps, can be found here.