Monday, June 8, 2009

The House That Soy Built

The House That Soy Built

Associated Press -- BROOKINGS, S.D. -- May 31, 2009 -- Munjal Patel, polyol research manager at Volga-based Urethane Soy Systems, spends all day in a lab trying to develop soybean oil into polyurethane applications.The company's research is making big strides, using soy-based polyols to create biorenewable products such as foam for insulation, packaging and cushioning, truck bed liners, and more. Now Patel is taking his work home with him - literally.

The researcher and his wife, Vaishali, are building an energy efficient home in Brookings, and they want their contractors to use as many soy-based products as possible, such as soy-based spray foam insulation, carpet padding and a countertop material product based on - you guessed it - soy materials. Besides spray foam insulation, the couple will install other efficient products, like doors, appliances and windows, and then plan to test the efficiency of the soy-based products and their home overall.

Patel, a five-year employee of Urethane Soy Systems, "With our technology, we can convert soybean oil into a polyol that could be used for any of those applications," he said. "Soy-based spray foam works the same way as standard polyurethane. At the end of the day it does give you an advantage, because now you are using soy-based material, and you know the amount of energy going in to grow the soybeans, crush the beans, make the oil and convert it into polyol, versus taking the crude oil out of the ground, convert it and make polyol. There's a good advantage there."

Soy-based polyol products are every bit as good as petroleum based products, and even better when you consider that they're more environmentally friendly. Some products, such as the spray-foam insulation, actually cost less than their competitors.

On the Net: http://www.soyol.com

Global Organic Market In Decline

Organic Market In Decline; Companies Add Broader Sustainability Strategies to Retain and Attract Consumers

Press Release -- LONDON -- June 2, 2009 -- Global organic food sales have been increasing by over US $5 billion a year, exceeding US $50 billion in 2008. However, single digit-growth could occur for the first time this year because the global economic slowdown is impacting organic product sales.

Organic food sales are being affected by the reduction in consumer spending power. Consumers are curbing expenditure on food products because of rising price sensitivity. Organic Monitor (www.organicmonitor.com) finds another factor affecting market growth is increasing consumer sophistication. Consumers are demanding more from organic food products; they are increasingly looking at ethical sourcing, traceability, the carbon footprint, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Thus, the organic production method only partially meets rising consumer expectations.

Recognising the change in consumer behaviour, leading organic food companies are adopting ‘Organic Plus’ strategies. Such companies are going beyond organic and adopting highly ethical, ecological and sustainable business practices. Increasingly, these companies are marketing their organic products on these values.

Bioelectricity Promises More 'Miles Per Acre' Than Ethanol

Bioelectricity Promises More 'Miles Per Acre' Than Ethanol

Press Release -- Stanford, CA -- June 4, 2009 -- Biofuels such as ethanol offer an alternative to petroleum for powering our cars, but growing energy crops to produce them can compete with food crops for farmland, and clearing forests to expand farmland will aggravate the climate change problem. How can we maximize our "miles per acre" from biomass? Researchers writing in the online edition of the May 7 Science magazine say the best bet is to convert the biomass to electricity, rather than ethanol. They calculate that, compared to ethanol used for internal combustion engines, bioelectricity used for battery-powered vehicles would deliver an average of 80% more miles of transportation per acre of crops, while also providing double the greenhouse gas offsets to mitigate climate change.