Photo credit: Switch Lighting
Switch Lighting’s LED bulbs have similar technical specs to its competitors, but the startup is counting on clever design and good looks to stand out in a crowded field. The company plans to make its first three general-purpose light bulbs available this summer to lighting distributors and today is expected to introduce a three-way bulb and a 240-volt bulb for markets outside the U.S.
To learn more about LED bulbs, click here.
Innovative polymeric fire safety solution is result of technology license from Dow
(BATON ROUGE, La.) April 12, 2011–Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), a leader in the development, manufacture and marketing of flame retardants, announced today that it has expanded its Earthwise™ platform of sustainable products by introducing a new polymeric flame retardant for use in extruded (XPS) and expanded (EPS) polystyrene applications.
This new technology, licensed from Dow Global Technologies LLC (DGTL), a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), will be commercialized under Albemarle’s Earthwise brand and provides a stable, high molecular weight, non-PBT (Persistent, Bioaccumulative, Toxic) polymeric technology for use in these demanding applications. This new technology is expected to become the preferred choice to meet critical fire safety requirements for both XPS and EPS.
Albemarle’s agreement to manufacture and sell this premium technology confirms the company’s commitment to provide customers with sustainable, innovative fire safety solutions that meet the increasing demands of global regulations and standards, such as energy efficiency and sustainable design for these thermal insulation materials.
“This expansion of our Earthwise portfolio is another sign of our position as the industry leader in flame retardants, and joins our other key polymeric platforms, Green Armor™ and our family of brominated polystyrene products, SAYTEX® HP-3010, HP-7010 and 621,” said Brian Carter, Division Vice President of global brominated flame retardants. “Albemarle expects to commercialize this new technology in 2014 and is already working closely with customers to fully qualify the product in both applications.”
Albemarle’s flame retardant business is part of the Company’s fire safety solutions within the Polymer Solutions business segment.
About Albemarle
Albemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a leading global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services. The Company is committed to global sustainability and is advancing its eco-practices and solutions in its three business segments, Polymer Solutions, Catalysts and Fine Chemistry. Corporate Responsibility Magazine selected Albemarle to its prestigious “100 Best Corporate Citizens” list for 2010 and 2011. Albemarle employs approximately 4,000 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. Albemarle regularly posts information to www.albemarle.com, including notification of events, news, financial performance, investor presentations and webcasts, Regulation G reconciliations, SEC filings, and other information regarding the Company, its businesses and the markets we serve.
Whether consumers are watching a television, sitting on a sofa, taking a commercial airline flight, or swallowing ibuprofen to relieve a headache, Albemarle products are there making lives safer and more livable. For more information, visit www.earthwiseinside.com.
Albemarle Media Contact: Ashley Mendoza, (225) 388-7137, Ashley.Mendoza@albemarle.com
Albemarle Investor Relations Contact: Lorin Crenshaw, (225) 388-7322, Lorin.Crenshaw@albemarle.com
About The Dow Chemical Company
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world’s most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow’s diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2011, Dow had annual sales of $60 billion and employed approximately 52,000 people worldwide. The Company’s more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 197 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to “Dow” or the “Company” mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.
The Dow Chemical Company Media Contact: Erik van Oosten, (989) 636-5090, evanoosten@dow.com
“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation’s business that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The increased demand for innovative biofuels is prompting fuel producers to look for alternative sources of feedstock that are more sustainable. For example, sugars and starches can be used for the production of ethanol while animal fats and vegetable oils can be used in the production of biodiesel. Alternative feedstocks include bio-degradable wastes, aquatic biomass such as algae and seaweed, and biomass such as wood, bagasse, corn stover and grasses.
In response to increased demand for alternatives fuels, Albemarle has developed a line of catalyst that will facilitate the production of biofuels from biomass. These catalysts make up our GoBioTM portfolio.
Among our GoBio products, Albemarle offers catalytic solutions for renewable diesel and biodiesel production using two primary processes. In the first process, vegetable oils and fats are reacted with methanol to produce fatty acid methyl-esters (FAME or biodiesel). This process utilizes our new heterogeneous products, GoBio TS-15 or T300.
In the second process, vegetable oils and fats are converted into paraffin via a refinery-based hydrotreating process. The process also utilizes a heterogeneous catalyst which leads to significant process improvements. Albemarle’s heterogeneous catalysts have been successfully used in the NExBTL® process, a process developed by Finnish oil company Neste Oil. The first commercial NExBTL units are now in operation and are producing high quality renewable diesel.
We also interact with a diverse group of companies to investigate their specific biomass conversion needs. In addition to oil companies, these organizations include technology providers and engineering firms.
For Albemarle’s portfolio of biofuel catalyst, click here.
First there was the tech boom. Then the housing bubble.
Now, new profits and investment opportunities are emerging from the surge in U.S. gas and oil production. Innovations in drilling techniques—such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling—have made it easier to extract oil and natural gas from shale and other rock formations. That has boosted production and led to billions of dollars of profits for some early pioneers and investors.
“America stands on the verge of a major change that puts it on a course to near self-sufficiency” in energy, says Tobias Levkovich, Citigroup’s chief U.S. equity strategist, who says the energy surge is a key reason to be upbeat on the market and U.S. economy.
“The implications are simply stunning on America’s current account figures, trade balances and even potentially the positioning [and cost] of U.S. military forces around the world,” he says. “The increase in production of shale gas could also add millions of new jobs.”
Investors are eager for an energy boost in a market that has only very recently shown some strength. The broad Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index is up more than 6% so far in 2012, after ending 2011 pretty much where it began. The S&P Energy Index is up 4.25% this year.
Much as in previous booms, however, investors risk jumping in after some of the best gains have been reaped. Indeed, the energy patch can be a tricky place to invest. Surging gas production has been a boon to consumers and companies that use natural gas for heating or to make various products. But all that added supply, along with an unusually warm winter, have sent gas prices down nearly 50% in the past year.
That drop has pressured companies like Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest natural-gas producer, which has seen its stock price fall by more than a quarter in the past year, even as it meets success extracting more gas through new techniques. Cabot Oil & Gas was the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 last year, with a gain of 100%. But so far this year, the stock has dropped about 15%, another sign of the challenges for investors playing this new wave.
It’s also true that environmental scrutiny of this drilling is on the rise. And shale extraction is relatively new, so there remains uncertainty about how long wells will produce.
Natural-gas prices may rebound from current low levels, at least over the long term, as more uses are found for this low-cost energy. But for now, analysts recommend that investors focus on companies seeing growing oil production from innovative drilling methods, rather than those sticking with gas. Two larger independent drillers that some investors recommend: EOG Resources and Continental Resources.
Other attractive stocks: Chemical companies and others benefiting from tumbling natural-gas prices. Analysts recommend companies including CF Industries Holdings and LyondellBasell Industries.
As recently as 2005, few held out much hope for any boom in U.S. energy production. Most experts said producers would see a gradual slowdown of domestic oil and gas production, and billions of dollars were invested in ways to import natural gas from abroad.
But in just the last few years, the new drilling techniques have created a new gusher. Among the innovations: drilling down in the ground and turning horizontally to capture more of the gas and oil trapped in underground shale deposits, and using a mix of water, sand and chemicals to break apart porous rock and release oil and gas.
The new drilling methods are “a completely disruptive technology” allowing companies to double and triple growth in energy production in just a few years, says Dan Rice, manager of the BlackRock Energy & Resources Fund .
Some of the most attractive companies are those that have been able to shift from natural-gas exploration to oil extraction. As recently as 2006, EOG saw 79% of its revenues come from natural gas, and just 21% from so-called liquids, which include crude oil. But the company became worried about future oversupply of natural gas and began to focus on oil. This year, EOG says, it expects to see about 75% of revenues come from liquids, and just 25% from natural gas.
Mr. Rice says shares of both EOG and Continental, which has become a major driller for oil in areas like North Dakota, are inexpensive.
He also is a fan of Range Resources and EQT, companies active in the booming Marcellus Shale region, which ranges through states including New York and West Virginia. Others recommend smaller energy producers, such as Houston-based Oasis Petroleum which could be takeover targets.
Some analysts are most excited about chemical companies like CF Industries. Nitrogen production accounts for about 80% of the company’s sales, according to analysts at Citigroup. And natural gas accounts for about 85% of the cash production costs for CF’s nitrogen production, the analysts said, a reason for optimism on the company.
Dow Chemical, meanwhile, is benefiting from falling natural-gas prices because it lowers the price for ethane, “a key material” for Dow’s ethylene production, the Citigroup analysts say.
A riskier stock with potential upside: Cheniere Energy , which once aimed to be a big importer of natural gas. A glut of U.S. gas forced the company to scrap those plans, but it now is hoping to be the nation’s first exporter of liquefied natural gas.
As natural gas drops, and consumers and power companies depending on natural gas benefit, the chemical industry will as well, Citigroup says, because “the chemical industry consumes about 10% of natural gas” in the U.S.
BATON ROUGE, La., Jan. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) successfully completed the latest expansion of its Process Development Center (PDC) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by installing a new production train for finished polyolefin catalysts and a number of supporting auxiliaries.
“This new train will add to the capacity in our existing facilities at the PDC,” explains Amy Motto, vice president of Albemarle’s Performance Catalyst Solutions (PCS) division. “The increased capacity is needed to meet the growing demand for finished single site catalysts used in the polyolefin industry including Albemarle’s ActivCat® technology.”
“The project team deserves a lot of credit for completing this project on a highly expedited schedule,” said Jay Roberg, technical director for Albemarle’s PCS and Fine Chemicals divisions. “Not only did the team deliver the project safely, but we were able to produce high performance finished catalysts on specification from the very first batch.”
This expansion is the latest in a series of projects that Albemarle is undertaking to meet the growing demand for its metallocene/single site finished catalyst business. A separate production facility is also being constructed in Yeosu, Korea to help meet this demand.
About Performance Catalyst Solutions
In November 2011, Albemarle’s Polyolefin and Chemical Catalyst division, a segment of its Catalyst global business unit, was officially renamed Performance Catalyst Solutions to reinforce the division’s transition from supplying components, such as organometallics, to delivering high performance catalyst solutions through a finished catalyst product portfolio. The division is comprised of three business units: Polymer Catalysts, Chemical Catalyst, and Electronic Materials. Collectively, these businesses provide performance-based products and services that are used in the plastics, agricultural, and electronics industries.
About Albemarle
Albemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a leading global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services. The Company is committed to global sustainability and is advancing its eco-practices and solutions in its three business segments, Polymer Solutions, Catalysts and Fine Chemistry. Corporate Responsibility Magazine selected Albemarle to its prestigious “100 Best Corporate Citizens” list for 2010 and 2011. Albemarle employs approximately 4,000 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. Albemarle regularly posts information to www.albemarle.com, including notification of events, news, financial performance, investor presentations and webcasts, Regulation G reconciliations, SEC filings, and other information regarding the Company, its businesses and the markets we serve.
“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation’s business that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K.
ScienceDaily — A team of undergraduate engineering students at Oregon State University has discovered that blending byproducts from biodiesel production and winemaking produces an environmentally friendly polymer that could one day replace polystyrene foam meat trays in supermarkets.
It may also be valuable in the manufacture of furniture, particle board, fire logs, insulation and even hair gel.
The process is so unique and potentially marketable that the students have applied for a patent to protect their intellectual property, said David Hackleman, the Linus Pauling Chair at the OSU College of Engineering.
“I’m delighted, but not totally surprised, that they can now add to their report the words ‘patent application pending,’” Hackleman said.
Christen Glarborg, Patrick O’Connor, Heather Paris and Alana Warner-Tuhy – all seniors studying chemical engineering – delved into combining glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel production, and tartaric acid, a byproduct of wine production.
“When put together, those ingredients can make a hard, bubbly polymer,” Paris said.
In the 1880s, the same material was used in the making of varnishes and paints.
“It biodegrades in water,” said O’Connor. “Dr. Hackleman suggested we try to mold it into a tray, like to replace the foam trays under meat in the supermarket.”
But their first experiments resulted in a rock-hard mess: Think of cooking taffy too long, so that it sticks so hard, you have to throw the pot away. The young researchers persevered until they produced a more manageable glue, which they decided to try mixing with other byproducts such as sawdust and woodchips.
Voila! A material that was moldable, though somewhat tacky. So they popped it into an oven to see if it would firm up. It seemed they were possibly onto a particleboard for “green” building.
“Then we found that at 600 degrees, our polymer vaporized,” Paris said. “So we thought, how about ash-free logs or pellets for heating?”
While the students continued exploring possibilities, Hackleman knew enough about entrepreneurship to realize they should begin the process of protecting their intellectual property. He steered them to OSU’s Office of Technology Transfer, where their invention disclosure was brought to the stage of “patent pending.”
The students are now focused on testing and refining the polymer for strength and biodegradability. While it is not yet clear whether or not the technology will make it to commercialization, “it’s certainly a boost for the students,” Hackleman said.
The team won “Best Chemical Engineering Project” and was runner-up for “People’s Choice Award” at OSU’s eighth annual Engineering Expo in May. The team members displayed their research among more than 100 student design projects and product prototypes.
“Producing biodiesel produces a lot of glycerin,” Hackleman said. “Now it seems that even the waste from green industries can be put to another good use – one that can help in the solution to a global problem.”
For more information on green polymer, click here.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Honda Civic Natural Gas took home Green Car Journal’s 2012 Green Car of the Year award at the L.A. Auto Show.
The Civic was lauded for being the cleanest running internal combustion vehicle as certified by the EPA and the only assembly-line produced natural gas passenger model for sale on the U.S. market.
“There is no other vehicle on American highways like the Civic Natural Gas, and this recognition has been a long time coming for Honda,” Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal, said in a statement.
“The new generation Civic Natural Gas features greater fuel efficiency, a handsome and roomier new design, and tailpipe emission levels untouched by any other internal combustion production vehicle.”
The 2012 Civic Natural Gas is a fifth generation model, running on “a clean fuel that is almost exclusively domestically sourced and typically priced about 30 percent less than gasoline,” the statement said. It retails for just over $26,000 and was selected from a field of five finalists that also included the Ford Focus Electric, the Mitsubishi i, the Toyota Prius v and the Volkswagen Passat TDI.
Only cars that were newly introduced or completely redesigned in the past year are eligible for the award. Last year’s winner was the Chevrolet Volt.
Below are a few green events happening around the U.S.:
Sustainability Across the Curriculum Leadership Workshops
When: Jan 10 – 12, 2012
Where: Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Description: Through an intensive two days of presentations, exercises, discussions, reflection, and planning, participants will become familiar with the philosophy of change in higher education developed through the Ponderosa Project at Northern Arizona University and adapted at Emory in the Piedmont Project. Participants will also experience a range of workshop strategies, hear local experts, enjoy outdoor place-based activities, and dialogue with faculty from around the country as they gain help in adapting this model to their own campus. In a supportive and stimulating environment, workshop members will reflect on their own roles in the transformation of higher education. Readings and materials will also be provided.
Further details: http://www.aashe.org/events/workshops/curriculum
Wild and Scenic Film Festival
When: Jan 13 – 15, 2012
Where: Nevada City, California
Description: Considered the largest film festival of its kind, this year’s films combine stellar filmmaking, beautiful cinematography and first-rate storytelling to inform, inspire and ignite solutions and possibilities to restore the earth and human communities while creating a positive future for the next generation. Festival-goers can expect to see Award winning films about nature, community activism, adventure, conservation, water, energy and climate change, wildlife, environmental justice, agriculture, Native American and indigenous cultures.
Further details: http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org/
The Green Biz Forum New York City
When: Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012
Where: Sentry Center New York City
Description: Framed by the 2012 State of Green Business report, the 2012 GreenBiz Forums will convene key thought leaders and sustainability executives to define the trends, challenges and opportunities in sustainable business today, and chart the course for the future. This year, the GreenBiz Forums will feature one-day events in three U.S. cities, engaging stakeholders across industries, sectors, and regions to discuss how, and how well, companies are addressing sustainability in a comprehensive view of the state of green business today.
Further details: http://www.greenbiz.com/events/2012/01/forum-2012/new-york?utm_source=GreenBiz+Special+Offers&utm_campaign=0b3fddbedc-gbf12_01102011&utm_medium=email
CONFERENCE: Minnesota Green Chemistry Conference 2012: Strategies for Growth
When: Thursday, Jan 26, 2012
Where: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs Conference Center
Description: This conference will explore how we can reap the benefits of green chemistry by promoting a healthy business environment for green chemistry here in Minnesota.
Further details: http://www.greenchemistrymn.org/
Let us know of any conferences, events, or festivals in your area.
Augusta National insists it’s a lot more environmentally friendly than its reputation.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The color of Augusta National Golf Course is definitely green: as in the grass, as in the jackets, as in the cups and napkins used to make litter invisible during the televising of the Masters; as in the money produced by the annual gathering of the game’s greats; and as in the envy most golfers feel when they compare this course to the ones they play.
But there is another type of green that the club is trying to reach: the green as in environmentally friendly.
“At Augusta National, we strive to be environmentally friendly because it’s the right thing to do,” says Billy Payne, chairman of the club.
Augusta National is not among the roughly 300 golf courses that have received a stamp of approval from the environmental-activist organization Audubon International.
For one thing, this is because the famously private club declines to open up for outside inspection. But Ron Dodson, president of Audubon International, says he is pleased the club wants to be seen as green — if only because it helps remind players and course managers that golf is a game played in nature.
Indeed, critics often accuse golf courses of wasting water, overusing pesticides and fertilizers, and building green spaces that are dedicated more to humans than to nature. The National Audubon Society put Augusta National on a list of “bad” courses in a magazine article 10 years ago, about the same time that a book predicted the club’s loblolly pines would soon die, victims not just of age but also of overfertilization.
The pines, Augusta National officials are quick to point out, are still alive. The critics, a club source adds, wrongly assumed that excessive use of fertilizer was necessary to make the course so green.
Michael Hurdzan, a golf-course designer and consultant, concedes that nature and golf courses have not always gotten along; 50 years ago or so, greenkeepers routinely used products loaded with cadmium, lead, arsenic and a substance later known as Agent Orange. Greenkeepers often got sick as a result of working with these chemicals.
But, Dr. Hurdzan adds, “starting with the Rachel Carson days of the 1960s,” golf courses have made steady progress in responsible use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, as reflected in tests of water quality. “What you would have found with a test [for pesticides] 20 years ago is different than what you would have found 10 years ago, and is different than what you would find next week,” he says.
Augusta National has routinely conducted such tests for years here on its 365 acres next to the South Carolina border. The club draws its nonpotable water from three natural sources: the Savannah River, Rae’s Creek, which winds through the grounds, and the two ponds on the course. Officials say they test the water before spraying it on the course and again at a spot where it leaves the property, and say the chemical makeup is nearly identical.
The club formerly used blue and black dye in its ponds but says it stopped doing so in 2000. With television in mind, however, it still occasionally tests dyes and says it might start again at some point.
To read the rest of this story, click here.
By Anne Kolton
The American Chemistry Council works to educate policymakers about how chemistry makes life better for people across the country and around the world. That’s why it’s discouraging to see reports, like the one that appeared today in Environmental Health News, that misrepresent ACC’s advocacy initiatives. Prominent among the inaccuracies was the implication that all expenditures from ACC in California were related to flame retardants – that is simply not true.
Regardless, the real story is that flame retardants save lives. For example, aviation experts cite improved flame-retardant technologies in cabin seats and furnishings among the critical engineering advancements that have increased passengers’ chances of surviving an airline accident.
Our member companies are at the forefront of innovating new flame retardants, which undergo extensive testing by manufacturers and the safety data are scrutinized by government agencies in the U.S. and abroad. And there is a great deal of information showing that flame retardants play a crucial role in protecting people from the devastation of fire.
Unfortunately, we’ve found time and again that these important facts do not receive the attention they deserve, while, in the age of social media, the most alarming stories take on a life of their own. That’s part of the reason why ACC has to commit so much time and effort educating policymakers and the public, and countering misinformation.
We hope you will share this information with your friends and encourage anyone with questions to visit www.americanchemistry.com.
