| Resources have been an important part of human life and society.
In the early days of mankind food and available water has been one of the
most limiting factors. In fact, the easy availability of food and other
resources in the Ancient Age of the Middle East (Egypt, Greece and Mesopotamia)
enabled these countries to develop cultural activities, which led
finally to the development of our Western Culture. The same is true for
the Middle Age in Europe. As climatic conditions for agriculture were very
favourable in France, Italy and Spain, these countries could afford to
nourish philosophers, artist, scientists and unfortunately also wars. North
America, Northern and Eastern Europe did not participate in the early beginnings
of humankinds simply because of the lack of resources due to unfavourable
climatic (freezes in the winter/springtime, cold summers and storage losses
due to high humudity).
In the beginning of human development nearly all chemicals used
for industrial purposes in the economy came from plants and wood.Inks,
dyes, oils, coating, paints and many other chemicals were derived from
plant and wood. Over the last century the market for industrial chemicals
has considerably changed. Petrochemical based products replaced step by
step products based on renewable resources. The above figures compare with
800 million tons of industrial chemicals from petrochemicals world wide.
The market for synthetic fibers has the same size as the market for cotton
worldwide (25 million tons). Soon the market for synthetic textile fibers
will overtake the market for natural fibers. The same is also true
for pharmaceuticals, which are produced more and more synthetically. Even
paper is under threat from new packaging materials such as polyester and
polyethylene. The role of paper will also change as an information carrier
under competition from new information storage technologies.
Nevertheless a turnaround for this trend is in sight.
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| The decline of worldwide oil and gas reserves due to the low
reserve replacement ratio (only 20 % for 1995 Source: Petroconsultants
1996) indicate a substantial increase for the oil and gas price in the
next future. Canada as an example is already net oil importer during the
next five years. According to the Department of Energy US oil imports are
at a record high and oil production at a record low. China has been
a net oil importer since 1995. In addition, most of the worldwide oil and
gas reserves are concentrated in a small but political highly sensitive
area. This can lead to severe political tension. These changes in competitive
environment will favor the production and marketing of products derived
from renewable resources .
The trend towards more sustainable production in this industry is further enhanced by the high demand for commodities needed by a fast growing world population. Although the demand for commodities from developed countries is in a very mature stage, the demand from emerging countries is rising fast, despite the latest Asian financial crisis. The growing supply tightness of raw materials is a reason to return to more sustainable products based on renewable resources. The trend towards more petrochemicals will reverse . The world will gradually shift from a hydrocarbon based economy to a more sustainable carbohydrate economy.The worldwide higher living standard requires better and sustainable technologies to meet this growing appetite from emerging countries. This will create many opportunities for new technologies based on renewable resources. |