June 22nd, 2011
Green Week is the biggest annual conference on European environmental policy and took place from May 24th to the 27th in Brussels and around Europe. This year’s theme: “Resource Efficiency – Using less, living better”.
The conference addressed the problem of resource depletion and scarcity, as well as the challenges and opportunities presented by constraints on resources. Albemarle’s European Advocacy Departmentsustainable growth. Over the past decade, the conference has established itself as ‘the event not to miss’ for anyone involved with protecting Europe’s environment. attended this conference that aimed to encourage a shift towards a resource-efficient, low-carbon, low-waste economy to achieve
Sustainability topics ran the gamut of industries and markets. Presentations and discussions focused on phosphorous depletion (focus on agricultural/food use), green chemistry, sustainable consumption and production (SCP), as well as Green Public Procurement (GPP).
Some of the Presentations/discussion panels included:
If you missed the event and want to learn more about Europe’s sustainability progress, visit the Green Week 2011 site.
For more on Albemarle’s sustainability initiatives, visit the Albemarle and the Earthwise sites.
Tags: Albemarle, Albemarle Corporation, clean technologies, corporate sustainability, eco-friendly, environmental business innovations, green business innovation, Sustainability, sustainable business
Posted in Air and water, Albemarle, Alternative fuels, Chemistry, Company Information, Conferences, Consumer attitudes, Consumer eco-products, EPA, Eco-awards, Energy, European Chemical Industry Council, Events, Global Business, Uncategorized
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March 19th, 2011
Being “Green” makes a nice bumper sticker, but actually doing it in the real world is a much more complex task. As companies, including Albemarle, begin to deal with trying to satisfy customer’s desire for green products, they have some tough decisions to make. For example, for an electronics company, there are so many different possible ways to do that and to define it. One of the big choices is do you try and decrease the “carbon footprint” (CO2) of your manufacturing product or look at being able to fully recycle the product? Those two objectives might be mutually exclusive in many cases, and both might are likely to cost more money. And since there is not yet a “standard” for green, companies are trying to match customer performance demands, environmental sensitivity, and cost/price metrics.
As a consumer, how much more are you willing to pay for the cost of green?
Tags: Albemarle, Albemarle Corporation, clean technologies, corporate sustainability, Earthwise, environmental business innovations, green business innovation, sustainable business
Posted in Albemarle, Chemistry, Company Information, Conferences, EPA, European Chemical Industry Council, Flame Retardants, Global Business, Green Chemistry
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January 6th, 2011
Study says thousands put at risk from house fires due to low or non-existent EU furniture safety standards.
Will green technologies have a roll in this new finding?
Sofas bought in 25 member states reached life-threatening condition in less than seven minutes while “stringent” UK safety standards delayed fire growth for almost 25 minutes, it says.
The report says that 3,000 people are killed and 30,000 injured every year across Europe in house fires, half of which involve furniture.
The study has revealed “shocking” evidence that the lives of European citizens are being put at risk by very low – or non-existent – fire safety standards for upholstered furniture.
The research, carried out by a specialist testing centre in the Netherlands1, involved setting fire to sofas bought in each of the 27 EU member states.
It found that 25 out of the 27 sofas reached life-threatening heat and smoke density less than seven minutes after ignition – some in as little as two minutes.
By contrast, the sofa manufactured to the stringent UK (and Irish) fire safety standard slowed the development of the fire, which did not turn into a life-threatening blaze until more than 21 minutes had elapsed.
See full story.
Tags: Europe fire safety, flame retardant, flame retardant regulatory status
Posted in Chemistry, European Chemical Industry Council, European Flame Retardants Association, Flame Retardants, Government, Innovation and ideas, Uncategorized, fire safety
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November 19th, 2010
The European Flame Retardants Association (EFRA), a sector group of Cefic, and the European Chemical Industry Council just published an overview on flame retardants and their usages in everyday life. The publication cites the tremendous evolutions of consumer products concerning their fire safety, including electrical and electronic devices, textiles, furniture, construction products or personal and public transports over the past decades
Download your copy of Flame Retardants for a Changing Society. Interested in learning more about GreenArmor, a new technology in eco-friendly fire safety? Click here.
Tags: clean technologies, earthwise greenarmor, European Chemical Industry Council, European Flame Retardants Association, fire safety, flame retardant
Posted in Albemarle, Chemistry, Consumer attitudes, Eco-regulation, Electric, Electronics, European Chemical Industry Council, European Flame Retardants Association, Flame Retardants, fire safety
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