Page 281 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Chemical Industries 257

He committed to achieving at least three breakthroughs to help solve
the worldwide challenges of affordable and adequate food supply,
decent housing, sustainable water supplies, or improved personal
health and safety. In his words: “We will reach beyond the fences of
our company. Sustainability begins at home, but its destiny is to
engage the problems of the world.” He also announced a commit-
ment to improving the company’s energy efficiency, developing
alternative sources of energy, and addressing the challenge of global
climate change that has been driven by the consumption of fossil
fuels. Specifically:
• Between 1996 and 2005, Dow reduced its consumption of
fossil fuels per pound of product by more than 20%. The new
goals call for further improvements in energy efficiency of
25% over the next decade.
• In the area of climate change, the new goals call for reducing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 2.5% annually
between 2006 and 2015. The company plans to achieve this
reduction via a combination of energy efficiency, greater use
of alternative, low GHG emission energy sources, and carbon
offsets.
In addition, Dow’s 2015 sustainability commitments include
• Continued improvement in employee health and safety at Dow
locations
• New mechanisms for collaborating with communities where
Dow has a major presence to spearhead efforts to address com-
munity concerns and support community goals
• Increased transparency of Dow products with risk assess-
ments written for the layperson
• External evaluation and assessment of Dow product safety
and product stewardship processes
• A renewed commitment to “sustainable chemistry,” including
new or enhanced products or services with additional sus-
tainability benefits
Examples of Dow’s sustainable chemistry innovations are de -
scribed below.

Polyethylene from Sugar Cane
Brazilian sugar cane has already proved to be an energy-efficient
source of ethanol for automotive fuels. In 2007, Dow announced
plans to develop an energy-efficient, world-scale facility to manufac-
ture polyethylene in Brazil. Polyethylene is the most widely used of
all plastics and can be found in many everyday products such as food
packaging, milk jugs, plastic containers, pipes and liners.