Vision for renewable resources

There is no question that hydrocarbon-based products are beneficial and they have become ubiquitous in society. However, it would be very shortsighted to expect continued reliance on a finite pre-existing fossil fuel source as the sole platform for inputs. Therefore, the Vision for renewable resources proposes a future where material needs are met by a combination of both hydrocarbons and other renewable inputs from agriculture/forestry (Figure 1). 

Die Natur der Chemie, FUTURE (Hoechst Magazin), August 1996 Vision of large-scale production in shoebox-sized plants nature and plant ceUs as model for micro reactors sustainable development central role of catalysis general advantages of micro flow use of clean raw materials minimization of waste the next step in the sequence acetylene-to-efhylene chemistry ethane chemistry renewable resources combinatorial chemistry intelligent and creative solutions [229]. 

In the United States, a strong motivation has developed in the past decade to reduce the nation s dependence on imported oil and to increase their own energy supplies by using a more diverse mix of domestic resources. A Presidential Order triggered a series of initiatives for the promotion of the use of renewable resources in 1999. The Biomass Research and Development Act in 2000 led to the establishment of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee, which issued the vision for bioenergy and biobased products in the United States and the roadmap for biomass technologies in the United States. ... 

On the other hand, it is an accepted certainty that oil, coal, and natural gas are exhaustible resources with an undoubtedly increasing price trend in the long term. For the agricultural sector, the hope of decreasing dependency on the food markets and new additional income opportunities are important driving factors. For the industry, a change in the industrial raw material basis toward renewable resources offers the way to new products, new business models, and in the end to more sustainability-so the doubtlessly attractive vision. 

Figure 3. The contribution of material inputs and basic building blocks for manufacturing that comes from renewable resources andfrom fossil fuels, today andfor the 2020 vision.

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