Sustainability
“Sustainability” traditionally meant design of processes or policies to meet our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. The term evolved to mean creating and maintaining conditions for harmonious co-existence of humans and nature while meeting the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.
Most recently, sustainability has grown to include the perspectives of both the public and private sectors, not as adversaries, but working together. Public policy needs to satisfy basic economic, social and security needs of society now and for the future, without undermining the natural resource base and environmental quality on which the diversity and continuation of life depends. For growth of business, sustainability means increasing long-term shareholder value and social value through decreasing use of materials, especially non-renewable materials, and reducing negative impacts on the environment.
Common to both the public policy and business perspectives is recognition of need to support a growing economy while reducing the social and economic costs of economic growth. Sustainable development can be facilitated by public policies that integrate environmental, economic, and social values in decision-making. From a business perspective, sustainable development is accomplished by understanding the flow and costs of all process inputs and outputs (costs beyond simply financial), building systems that can adapt to changing needs, anticipating and managing variability and risk, and earning a profit.
Sustainability at Oakbio
At Oakbio, "sustainability" means making chemicals and fuels using resources such as carbon, energy, water, nitrogen, phosphorus, or other elements, in such a way that we do not deplete the environment of finite resources, we use renewable energy, and we recycle materials such as water whenever possible. By capturing CO2 from the waste gas streams of industry and creating chemicals that are incorporated into manufactured goods, we also spare the atmosphere from addition of more greenhouse gas (GHG). Making chemicals from waste CO2 and other renewable resources also spares the finite reserves of petroleum oil.
We do not use sugars or other feedstock from plants. Our process has no effect on agriculture, land use, water resources or food prices.
Sustainable2 Products
Our products are designated sustainable2 to represent simultaneous use of renewable energy and sparing of atmospheric CO2 accumulation. We use waste CO2 and renewable energy.
[CO2 capture] X [renewable energy] = sustainable2 chemicals & fuels
4th Generation Bioprocess Technologies Incorporate Sustainability
First Generation biotechnologies for microbial production of chemicals and biofuels (chiefly bioethanol to date) have been developed commercially. Second and third generation technologies under intensive research and development investment promise several advantages over the first generation process, but are are not yet at commercial scale. Fourth generation bioprocess technologies are developed with consideration of process sustainability.
Dependent on the commercial opportunity, Oakbio's technology can be used as a second generation technology (a "green" technology that uses waste CO2 gas) or as a "sustainable technology" that not only spares GHG accumulation but uses renewable energy to provide H2 gas, our energy feedstock. In this latter case, our technology and products are described as sustainable2
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