[nth]

Dupont has reduce energy use and uses less than in 1990 and yet company is growing and producing a lot.
This is an energy intensive company. If they can reduce to 1990 levels and below, that means US can go back to 1990 levels oil usage?

Efficiency does have a chance to keep our lifestyle for a couple of decades it seems.
Dupont status report

The more I think about this- the more amazed I am. It is possible to conserve electricity, so that we don't use more electricity to support our lifestyle.

[EnergySpin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'T')he more I think about this- the more amazed I am.
It is possible to conserve electricity, so that we don't use more electricity to support our lifestyle.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergySpin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'T')he more I think about this- the more amazed I am.
It is possible to conserve electricity, so that we don't use more electricity to support our lifestyle.

[EnergySpin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'I') am amazed because the conservation you are talking about requires us to change our lifestyle. Dupont produced more chemicals and synthetic goods than ever before, yet they held their energy use and reduced it while producing more goods. This is like saying I can have twice the amount of lights and still use less energy than before. Which is possible if I switch to energy efficient light bulbs. I guess that is what Dupont did.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergySpin', 'I') think you are mixing the issues or you had too much corporate/mass advertizing propaganda that interfered with your brain (sorry, I had to say that). Walking out of your house leaving the lights on does not really advance your quality of life, does it?

[EnergySpin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') have yet to see ads of any company to tell you to leave your lights on or leave anything on when you are not using it.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergySpin', 'C')ultural inertia

[thegrq]

Here's another way to reduce energy use and maintain our lifestyle: Get everybody to drive a Volkswaggen Golf!

The average fuel efficiency of cars today is 20mpg, the Golf gets around 40mpg (diesel golf that is). If everybody increased their fuel efficiency by 2 times (ie, everybody starts driving a VW Golf) then US oil consumption is reduced by 18%. The calculations and original article are here.

Driving a Golf would not change our way of life. Even driving a hybrid, which apparently can get up to 80mpg now, wouldn't change our way of life.

[nth]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thegrq', 'H')ere's another way to reduce energy use and maintain our lifestyle: Get everybody to drive a Volkswaggen Golf!
The average fuel efficiency of cars today is 20mpg, the Golf gets around 40mpg (diesel golf that is). If everybody increased their fuel efficiency by 2 times (ie, everybody starts driving a VW Golf) then US oil consumption is reduced by 18%. The calculations and original article are here.
Driving a Golf would not change our way of life. Even driving a hybrid, which apparently can get up to 80mpg now, wouldn't change our way of life.

[LadyRuby]

DuPont to Displace Fossil Fuels

Hurray for DuPont (I think).
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '.')..E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, unlike most chemical companies, has moved the quest for bio-based raw materials off the wish list and onto the to-do agenda. The company has allocated nearly 10 percent of its $1.3 billion research budget to extracting ingredients from carbohydrates — things that grow and can be infinitely replaced — rather than from hydrocarbons, which are mined or drilled and readily depleted.

DuPont already makes 10 percent of its products from nonpetrochemical substances, and Charles O. Holliday Jr., DuPont's chief executive, expects to increase that to 25 percent by 2010. By then, he says, such products will yield the equivalent of $3 billion in revenue in current dollars. The way Mr. Holliday sees it, so-called industrial biotechnology can solve myriad problems. It can insulate DuPont from the relentless rise in gas and oil prices. It can win kudos from environmentalists and shareholders who worry about the harmful effect of extracting and burning oil. It can play well in Washington, particularly since a quest for alternate energy sources was a crucial point in President Bush's State of the Union message. But during a nearly two-hour conversation in his spacious office above the Hotel DuPont, Mr. Holliday stressed his real motive in pushing for bio-based materials: his belief that they yield better products. He notes, for example, that the corn-based propane diol, a product used in carpet fibers that DuPont will begin selling this spring, offers better dye absorption and stain resistance than the petrochemical version DuPont now sells.

"We're using biology to solve problems that chemistry can't," he said.
It is not just bombast. DuPont is working with the Energy Department to turn corn plants — the husks, the ears, the stems, everything — into vehicular fuel. DuPont is close to developing plant-based hair dyes and nail polishes that will not adhere to skin, surgical bio-glues that can stanch internal bleeding and a textile fiber made from sugar that will act and feel like cotton.

This spring DuPont will open a factory in Loudon, Tenn., that will make propane diol — trademarked as Sorona — from glucose. For now the output is earmarked for carpet fiber, but DuPont is exploring whether it can work in rigid plastics for automobile interiors or de-icing compounds for airplanes.
The company has already converted many labs that once worked on pharmaceuticals or textiles — two businesses DuPont has shed — to now search for ingredients to replace oil and gas. Next year, it plans to cluster them all in one building and move a marketing staff in with them. ...

[Zardoz]

*ponders buying DuPont stock*

[FoxV]

lets not forget that DuPont is doing this not because they want to, but because the have to.
So the real question is will these new renewable and enviromentally friendly products be cost effective competion to fossil fuel based products from Europe and Asia.
If they're not, then we may be witnessing DuPont's dying gasps in North America (until the Mid East starts running out of Nat Gas, then DuPont will be back in like flynn)

[OilBurner]

"DuPont already makes 10 percent of its products from nonpetrochemical substance"

So DuPont is currently reliant on petrochemicals for 90% of its products? Good luck to them, but they've got a long way to go.

[strider3700]

Everytime Oil goes up Dupont's stock goes down. It's great that they are trying to change but I'm not convinced this makes them a good investment.

If they succeed then you'll probably get a little growth. If they fail they'll probably tank. Not much rewart there.

[grabby]

If on fifth of the oil is used for manufacturing, (from 80 million barrels a day) that means 20 million barrels a day of oil are needed to cure our chemical manufacturing fix.
42 gallons times 20 million = 820 million gallons of chemical based organics per day.
One bushel of corn produces about 1.7 gallons of high grade carbon liquid.
converting that to long chain incurs losses and yields about 1 gallon of crude equivalent.

so you need 820 million bushels of corn a DAY to replace the oil when oil runs out.
How many bushels of corn did the whole USA grow in the whole YEAR last year>?
13 days worth about. Wether dupont is 100 percent succesful with 100% fermentation and 1000% conversion we dont have enough farmers to do the change over for the worlds chemical plants.

it wont help us. if we did use all our corn and wheat and ate grass instead, we could only supply 1/20th of our needs with the corn and wheat we produce.
so we will run out of oil instead ot 9 years, then it would be 9 years and 3 months instead, plus we dont get any corn flakes or doritoes for the next 9 years.

alternates wont help a noticeable bit. even if they were 100 percent succesful.
Dupont is obviously interested in reaping some of that alternate energy free tax money, instead of being serious about helping cure our oil fix. what theiy are doing deosn't stand a snowball in summers chance of preventing the oil crash.

[Graeme]

BP and Dupont Receive Top Scores in First-Ever Ranking of 100 Global Companies on Climate Change Strategies
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')fter years of inaction, a growing number of leading U.S. companies are confronting the business challenges from global warming, recognizing that greenhouse gas limits are inevitable and that they cannot risk falling behind their international competitors in developing climate-friendly technologies. Some U.S. companies, such as General Electric, are catching up and joining DuPont and Alcoa in leading their industries. But many others are still largely ignoring the climate issue with "business as usual" strategies that may be putting their companies and shareholders at risk.

These are among the key findings of a first-ever report issued today by the Ceres investor coalition that analyzes how 100 leading companies are addressing the growing financial risks and opportunities from climate change - - whether from expanding greenhouse gas regulations, direct physical impacts or surging demand for climate-friendly technologies. Altogether, 76 U.S. companies and 24 non-U.S. companies in 10 business sectors are profiled in the report.

Among the industry sector leaders and laggards:
Sector Leaders Laggards
Oil/Gas BP (90 points*) ExxonMobil (35)
Chemical DuPont (85**) PPG (21)
Metals/Mining Alcan (77) & Alcoa (74) Newmont (24)
Electric Power AEP & Cinergy (both 73) Sempra Energy (24)
Auto Toyota (65) Nissan (33)

[Doly]

One of the reasons I chose to buy BP shares, of all possible oil companies. They look like they know exactly what's at stake, and are ready for the alternatives.

[Graeme]

DuPont to Produce New High-Performance Bio-Polymers for Automotive, Other Markets
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')uPont expects to begin production in 2007 of new high-performance thermoplastic resins and elastomer products made from two of its latest bio-based materials. The products will be targeted for automotive, electrical/electronic and other industrial markets.

DuPont will make intermediates for Sorona polymer and Hytrel from corn sugar instead of petroleum, using a patented and proprietary process. The key ingredient in Sorona is Bio-PDO, which replaces petrochemical-based 1,3-propanediol (PDO). The new DuPont Hytrel offering is produced using a new DuPont polyol also made with Bio-PDO.

In addition to replacing petrochemicals with renewable resources, the manufacturing of Bio-PDO requires approximately 40% less energy to produce than its petrochemical-based counterpart. That represents saving the equivalent of about 10 million gallons of gasoline per year, based on annual production volumes of 100 million pounds of Bio-PDO. The new products will contribute to DuPont’s corporate goal of deriving 25% of revenue from non-depletable resources by 2010.

[SchroedingersCat]

Why use "non-depletable" instead of "renewable?" Odd choice for a press release, me thinks.

[jsb1969]

...just a friendly particular here, in language. It's 'methinks' not 'me thinks'. I guess I just love that word and am pleased when I see it.
Cheers.