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DUPONT LOOKS TO BIO-BASED MATERIALS TO REPLACE PETROCHEMICALS

E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Company has moved the quest for bio-based raw materials off the wish list and onto the to-do agenda. The company has allocated nearly 10 percent of its $1.3 billion research budget to extracting ingredients from carbohydrates rather than from hydrocarbons. Charles O. Holliday Jr., DuPont's chief executive, believes that bio-based materials yield better products. He notes that the corn-based propane diol, a product used in carpet fibers that DuPont will begin selling this spring, offers better dye absorption and stain resistance than the petrochemical version DuPont now sells. "We're using biology to solve problems that chemistry can't," he said. This spring DuPont will open a factory in Loudon, Tenn., that will make propane diol — trademarked as Sorona — from glucose. For now, the output is earmarked for carpet fiber, but DuPont is exploring whether Sorona can work in rigid plastics for automobile interiors or de-icing compounds for airplanes. DuPont's optimism has other chemical industry executives scratching their heads. Dow Chemical pulled out of a joint venture with Cargill to make polylactic acid, a component of food packaging, from corn. Eastman Chemical sold its stake in Genencor International, a leader in industrial biotechnology. "We really do believe that industrial biotech is critical to our evolution, but the technologies of the foreseeable future just do not give the returns we expect from our research dollar," said Andrew N. Liveris, chief executive of Dow, which is looking for ways to make polyurethane from soybean oil, but has put a higher priority on extracting ingredients from coal. Friedhelm Balkenhohl, senior vice president for bio-catalysis research at the BASF Corporation, echoes that view: "Raw material change is one of our hot topics, but even 10 years from now, renewables will account for less than 10 percent of our ingredients."
The New York Times, 28 Feb 06, p. C1, by Claudia H. Deutsch.

USGBC, ASHRAE AND IESNA TO DEVELOP GREEN BUILDING STANDARD

ASHRAE, USGBC and IESNA announced that they will cosponsor development of ASHRAE/USGBC/IESNA Standard 189P: Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. The three organizations will develop the new standard through ASHRAE's ANSI-accredited process, creating a standard that could be incorporated into building codes, including other ASHRAE/ANSI standards. The standard, which is on the fast track to be rolled out in 2007, will apply to new commercial buildings and major renovations. It is expected to be modeled after the LEED® Rating system, including prescriptive measures drawn from all five LEED categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. "The standard will establish a baseline for high-performance green building," says ASHRAE President Lee Burgett, P.E. If Standard 189 is incorporated into building codes, it could enable LEED to drive higher levels of performance through Silver, Gold and Platinum certifications.

ALTERNATIVES TO PVC PRODUCTS IN LANDSCAPE APPLICATIONS

PVC products pose environmental hazards. So what are alternatives for landscaping? PVC-free pipe alternatives include high density polyethylene (HDPE). Because it is nonchlorinated, requires fewer additives, and has a much higher recycling rate, HDPE is considered a more benign plastic. A PVC alternative study performed for the City of Seattle found HDPE and cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) to be good alternatives for some pipe and conduit applications. In general, the cost of HDPE pipe is higher because of different construction and jointing methods. HDPE's flexibility results in fewer ruptures from freezing and construction around the pipes. HDPE is more commonly used in stormwater applications. In irrigation applications, HDPE and polyethelene (PE) are comparable alternatives to PVC for all irrigation components. Another option, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), is not chlorinated, but like PVC it has highly hazardous manufacturing intermediates, including carcinogens. ABS is considered only marginally better than PVC environmentally. For fencing, railing and decking, there are a few preassembled HDPE or composite fence panels on the market that are comparable to the vinyl picket fence. Polyethelene-coated composite lumber and hollow HDPE fencing and decking products, very similar to PVC, are manufactured by a few companies. For chain-link fencing, an alternative to vinyl coating is a polyester powder coating that is electrostatically applied. Healthy Building News offers a PVC-alternative database.
Landscape Architecture, Mar 06, p 94, by Meg Calkins.

USING LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS TO STUDY DOMESTIC WATER USE

Water and energy are two primary natural resources used by building occupants. In this study, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) was performed for water-consuming plumbing fixtures and water-consuming appliances during their operational life for an apartment building, a college dormitory, a motel, and an office building. Within the cycle studied, water was extracted from the natural environment, subjected to water treatment, pumped to buildings for use, collected for wastewater treatment, and discharged back to the natural environment. The impacts of water use, energy consumption (for water and wastewater treatment, and for water heating), and the manufacture of water and wastewater treatment chemicals were evaluated. Three treatment chemicals, calcium oxide, aluminum sulfate, and chlorine, were analyzed. The LCA found that water use and consumption within buildings have a much larger impact on resource consumption than the water and wastewater treatment stages of the life cycle. Of the four building types, the apartment had the highest water-related energy consumption per volume of water used, whereas the office building had the lowest. Comparing the environmental impact categories that made up the largest percentage of the LCA scores, water intake accounted for the largest percentage of the score—between 45 and 88% for all building scenarios studied. Fossil fuel depletion accounted for the second largest component of the score for alternatives that used natural gas for water heating, between 4 and 18%.
Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol 10, No. 1-2, p 169, by Angela Arpke and Neil Hutzler

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