Heavenly 2 me

WELLINGTON - Luchtvaartmaatschappij Air New Zealand gaat een testvlucht uitvoeren met een Boeing 747 waarvan een van de motoren werkt op biobrandstof gemengd met kerosine. Op de vlucht gaan geen passagiers mee.

De test vindt eind 2008 of begin 2009 plaats en maakt deel uit van een afspraak tussen Air New Zealand, vliegtuigfabrikant Boeing en motorenfabrikant Rolls Roys om vliegen ‘groener’ te maken, zo meldde de BBC op vrijdag.

Een woordvoerder van Air New Zealand verklaarde vrijdag dat vooruitgang in de technologie het gebruik van biobrandstof in het luchtverkeer eerder mogelijk heeft gemaakt dan aanvankelijk werd gedacht. Rolls Royce liet weten dat het niet gaat om een wedstrijd wie het eerste een ‘groen’ vliegtuig de lucht in krijgt.

If you want to stay naïve to how much contact you have with toxic chemicals during the day you probably shouldn’t watch this video. Still I would dare you to do so because I think it’s better to know what you are dealing with.

In defence to the Chemical Companies mentioned in the video I can bring forward that most of them are working very hard to replace harmful chemicals with green chemicals. Unfortunately this cannot be done over night. Let’s all try to stimulate this process by supporting Green Chemicals! Buyers in the industry don’t wait until Reach kicks in, take your responsibility and start buying products made from these sustainable/green chemicals!

Today, when searching information for a potential customer, I came across the below article;

BOSTON, March 13, 2006: Cabot Nanogel® aerogel material has been certified as Cradle-to-Cradle™ Technical Nutrient from MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry), leaders in environmental design and product sustainability. The Cradle-to-Cradle certification recognizes the ability to fully recover and reuse Nanogel aerogel material for multiple industrial lifecycles.
“This award further validates Nanogel as an environmentally sustainable product from the beginning of the manufacturing process,” said James Satterwhite, global business manager for Cabot Nanogel Construction segment. “Its superior thermal performance and light transmission properties have already established it as a proven energy-efficient building material. This certification recognizes that Nanogel is an industrial material that can be fully recovered and reused which helps everyone and the environment by eliminating waste.”

The Cradle-to-Cradle certification process evaluates a product’s ingredients and its complete formulation process for human and environmental health impacts throughout its lifecycle and its potential for being truly recycled. Nanogel maintains its chemical integrity and insulation performance indefinitely, which makes it ideally suited for recycling. Certification of a finished product also requires the evaluation of energy-use quantity and quality, water-use quantity, and workplace ethics of the company and its suppliers.

About Nanogel®
Cabot Corporation created Nanogel translucent aerogel to insulate thermally inefficient glazing systems. The feather-light aerogel is based on Cabot’s patented surface modification and fine-particle manufacturing technology. The nanoporous particles have an air content of 97%, making Nanogel the lightest solid material in the world. It provides a superior combination of thermal and sound insulation, as well as light transmission and diffusion over other insulation materials. These benefits can offer new design solutions for architects where both maximum natural daylight levels and energy efficiency are required. Nanogel® translucent aerogel material is manufactured exclusively by Cabot Corporation in Frankfurt, Germany.

About Cabot Corporation
Cabot Corporation is a global specialty chemicals and materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Cabot’s major products are carbon black, fumed silica, inkjet colorants, capacitor materials, and cesium formate drilling fluids.

Hopefully this will motivate people to start using Nanogel! Do it to encourage the engineers at Cabot Corp. and all Chemical companies to get their new products suitable to receive a Cradle to Cradle certificate!

20 november aanstaande staat het jaarlijkse Nationaal Kunststof Congres weer op mijn agenda en tot mijn genoegen heeft het congres dit jaar Duurzaamheid als thema gekregen! Ik kijk erg uit naar de bijdrage van Hoogleraar milieukunde Lucas Reijnders, hij zal zijn visie op een duurzame toekomst voor kunststoffen delen. Ik hoop tijdens het congres meer mensen uit mijn branch te ontmoeten die zich bezig houden met Biopolymeren & Green Chemistry.

Aanmelden kan nog via deze link.

Tot 20 november!

LONDEN - De mensheid steekt zich vanaf zaterdag ‘in de schulden’ bij de aarde. In iets meer dan tien maanden tijd heeft de mens de natuurlijke rijkdommen verbruikt die onze planeet in een jaar tijd kan produceren. Dat heeft de denktank New Economics Foundation (NEF) laten weten

Om die reden is 6 oktober uitgeroepen tot ‘Ecologische schulddag’. Dat is drie dagen eerder dan in 2006, en zes dagen eerder dan in 2005.

Twintig jaar geleden viel de dag dat de vraag van de mens het aanbod van de aarde oversteeg pas op 19 december.

Voor vele is dit waarschijnlijk oud nieuws echter vandaag hoorde ik op tv een paar zinnen over het initiatief van E.on Benelux om met hun restwarmte een tropische garnalen kwekerij te verwarmen. Voorheen werden deze garnalen van ver geïmporteerd in Nederland omdat ons klimaat het niet toelaat deze garnalen te kweken. Dubbele winst dus; de garnalen leggen geen kilometers meer af om in Nederland te komen en de restwarmte van E.on wordt op een goede manier gebruikt. Bijkomend voordeel is dat de dagverse garnalen op de menukaarten hierdoor misschien ook echt dagvers zijn…maar of ze nog zo happy zijn als ze op je bord liggen valt te betwijfelen

The 2006 Impact Factor for Green Chemistry has risen by a massive 29% over the 2005 value. The impact factor now stands at 4.192 - the highest ever value for the journal.

This impressive new Impact Factor reinforces Green Chemistry’s position as the leading journal for publishing urgent new work of the highest quality in the field of green and sustainable chemistry.

The Impact Factor is a measure of the number of times an “average article” in a journal has been cited in a particular year. The impact factor for 2006 is calculated from the total number of citations given in 2006 to articles published in 2004 and 2005, divided by the number of articles published in 2004 and 2005.

We would like to thank all our authors, referees and readers for their continued support.

Due to my meeting today I started looking into the developments in the Nanotechnology sphere in combination with Green Chemistry. Because Nanotechnology is named the fastest growing market it’s important to know they are talking about taking their responsibility concerning our health and environment. Luckily I found out that a lot of people are already urged by this matter and are looking into the potential threats. Have a look on the Nanotechwire site.

Quote from Nanotechwire site:

“Even before the government legislates guidelines and policies, key nanotechnology companies and researchers are already taking responsibility to ensure that nanotech products are produced in environmentally safe ways and that their risks to humans and the environment are minimized both during the production and consumption”

Now we’re talking

Today I had my first customer visit for the new company I work for.
Little did I know I was going to meet someone else than the purchaser I’ve met in the passed…to my joy they just hired a polymer researcher from the TU in Delft who in the passed 7 years spent a lot of time researching Nanotechnology and is now involved in the fantastic project called Ecobinders!!! We had a great conversation about their objectives and the work they’ve done up till now. This was my best visit ever, what an inspiration to meet such smart people with a passion for these things. He gave me a sample plaque of the resin they’ve designed, I don’t think I ever been happier with a product I received from a customer. There it was…in my hands…the future…

Stupid maybe; but this to me was a sign…this really is heavenly 2 me