Monday, 3 November 2014

J.P. Schaeken Willemaers "R&D should be fostered to improve current technologies and alternative energy sources"


  
Jean-Pierre Schaeken Willemaers
Chairman of the Energy,
Climate & Environment Department
Thomas More Institute

Speaker at PolyTalk 2014 

What would a single European market for energy look like and how realistic is it ?

A European single market for energy is not on the Commission’s agenda. Even if it were the case, it would be very difficult to get the approval of the member states.

Indeed, even a single regulator at the EU 28 level, a prerequisite for a single market, has been rejected by the member states due to the subsidiarity principle. However, a single regulator (without necessarily implementing a single market) would be very useful in order to secure  electrical supply, avoiding network congestion and so on.  

Repeated serious black-outs would potentially convince the member states to change their minds.
To improve the convergence of regional markets and the exchange of electrical energy, the Commission and the member states are focusing on strengthening the electrical interconnections between member states as well as increasing the number of electrical “entry” points.

However, the development of interconnections takes time: up to 10 years to obtain environment and installation permits and to get them built.

The European Commission proposed a 40% target for GHG reductions by 2030 and a 27% target for the market share of renewable energy. Do you think this is feasible?

First of all, it should be recalled that environmental objectives are just one of the main concerns of the European Commission: security of supply and competitiveness being currently considered as first priority.

The real question now is not the feasibility of a 40% target for GHG reductions by 2030 below 1990 level and a 27% share for renewable energy, but the economic and social impact of such a scheme, and, among others, the impact on the competitiveness of the EU industry, particularly the energy intensive one, and on the purchasing power of households.
One of the major contributions to the electricity price growth in the EU, is the cost of de-carbonization  and in some member states, the phase-out of nuclear power. It does not only deal with cost of subsidies and  of balancing the electrical system, but also with the investments in infrastructure, as a result of the increasing share of intermittent power.
After having spent large amounts of public money, placed utilities in serious difficulty and done little to reduce CO2 emissions, member states that gained a significant share of their electricity market from wind and solar production and/or started to phase out nuclear power, did not even succeed in building  a robust renewable industry. On the contrary, a number of solar panels and wind turbine manufacturers went  bankrupt or are facing difficult times.

Europe’s energy dependence is one of the biggest challenges Europe is facing. According to you, what would be needed to secure Europe’s energy independence?

Improving the energy independence (since securing full independence would not be realistic) requires to structure the power and fuel mix correctly or, in other words, to integrate all segments of an efficient energy policy, including competitiveness.

In such a perspective, the share of intermittent power (wind and solar) should be capped so that it becomes just a component of the electricity mix as other sources of energy. As far as carbon emissions reduction is concerned, the reason for promoting wind and solar power, it is irrational to exclude nuclear as a contributor to low carbon policy. Its life cycle CO2 emissions per kWh is of the same order of  magnitude as those from on shore wind  power and lower than those from photovoltaic panels.

Moreover, the life span of nuclear power stations, meeting safety criteria, should be extended and construction of new power stations should be allowed, based on best safety practices and cost criteria.

Third and especially fourth generation reactors when available, are qualified in this perspective. Nuclear fuel is not in short supply today (and will not be in the future, on the contrary) and are well distributed worldwide (mostly in politically stable countries).
As fossil fuels will still be part of the energy mix in the coming decades, domestic production should be promoted. In this respect, it is irrational to ban hydraulic fracking for the exploration of shale gas and for gas extraction if economic and safety conditions are met. The current technology is safe if used by responsible professionals. However, more pedagogy is needed to overcome emotional fear of people.

As a rule, better and more energy interconnections and reverse flows as well as energy storage is a of the essence.

Of course, R&D should be fostered to improve current technologies and for alternative energy sources.

Leonid Bershidsky published an editorial piece in Bloomberg explaining that Europe’s high energy costs are not particularly important in terms of competitiveness as manufacturing companies have improved their energy efficiency in industrial processes, compensating the higher prices they pay. Do you agree with this statement?

Not at all.

If  energy costs were not particularly important in terms of competitiveness, how does one explain the manufacturing renaissance in the United States and huge spending on new facilities such as chemical, steel and aluminum plants after the shale oil and gas boom?
Why would facilities which have relocated outside the US come back to the US, if it weren’t to benefit from cheap energy?

The shale bonanza has, indeed, created hundreds of thousands of new high-paid , middle class, jobs and has given the US a long-term economic advantage over its competitors and helped the country recover from the recession.

If energy costs were not particularly important in terms of competitiveness, why would Germany exempt a number of industrial companies from the contribution to the energy transition promoting intermittent renewable energy and phase-out of nuclear power that lead to strong increases of the electricity bills, if it weren’t to compensate for high energy prices and sustain their competitiveness?

Friday, 31 October 2014

Bjoern Hedlund: “Innovation requires collaboration across companies, borders, sectors, and government”

Bjoern Hedlund
Vice President, High Performance Polymers
DuPont Performance Polymers


Speaker at PolyTalk2014

DuPont has established eleven Innovation Centres featuring polymers worldwide, employing more than 10,000 scientists and customers. What is the goal behind this strong commitment to research and development?

Our goal is to connect and collaborate. 

We use these centres to directly connect locally with customers. We can access the relevant experts among our 10,000 scientists and engineers to that specific customer project, no matter where they are in the world and offer solutions for specific needs by leveraging our knowledge. 

DuPont is a science company. We believe that the most successful model for connecting science to the marketplace is collaboration. At the Innovation Centers, we work with customers and partners to develop new sustainable solutions for specific needs to make lives better, safer, and healthier for people everywhere.We’re using the power of integrated science to build our strengths in three areas. 

The three areas where our expertise lies are: material science, biosciences and agricultural sciences.  Our goals are:

    • Advanced materials. We’ve been a leader in materials science for a long time and our strategy here is to further strengthen and to grow our position in highly differentiated performance materials. 
    • Bio-based industrials. Our strategy here is to develop world leading industrial biotechnology capabilities to reduce dependence on finite resources and transform to a more bio based materials industry. 
    • Agriculture. To become the clear global leader in the high value, science-driven segments of the agriculture-to-food value chain, and to leverage the linkages across these segments. 

Connecting customer-driven, market insight with our technology capabilities is proving to make a difference in the global markets we serve.

The European Commission stated this year that innovation remains a priority in the EU and that the continent needs more innovative companies. Is this grist to the mill for your innovation-driven company? And do you think Europe is supporting industries enough to bring innovations successfully to the markets?

We do not innovate in a vacuum. Innovation requires collaboration across companies, borders, sectors, and government. 

These innovations must spring from pressing human needs, and to be successful they must be introduced to the marketplace and accepted by society, which involves dialogue and understanding with all stakeholders. 

Market driven Innovation starts with an interactive culture. It involves interacting and building networks with external stakeholders, whether with peers, customers, or regulatory bodies.

Given the variety of insight that goes into a market-driven innovation process, it is only logical that the result is not just a new product, but new technology platforms, or simply new ways to operate altogether.

In order to accomplish this, industry needs stable policies and streamlined regulation that reduce risk and justify investment. Uncertain policies invariably lead to a reduced investment climate.

We can provide the technology, the investments, the people… but we need government to create the climate that drive and support innovation to meet the big global challenges and opportunities. 

At PolyTalk, you will be talking about innovation as the answer to the global megatrends. Can you briefly explain how plastics and the plastics industry are helping to deal with worldwide urbanisation, demographic change or the increasing strain on natural resources?

An example would be how plastics are supporting the transformation of the automotive industry towards sustainable mobility. 

As emission and fuel consumption standards continue to be a moving target for car companies, we collaborate with car manufacturers to develop new materials and solutions to enhance performance and reduce weight of cars. We are committed to discovering and developing lighter-weight alternatives to metal, materials that can withstand the intense heat, the aggressive chemicals, and the high pressures in constant play within automotive engines. 

More recently, our industry collaborations led to the creation of DuPont Energain separators, based on nano fibre science, for high-performance lithium ion batteries in all types of electric and hybrid vehicles.

If someone would ask you why she/he should attend PolyTalk, what would you answer?

Come and get inspired by the opportunities polymers offer in enabling innovation and sustainable economic growth.

Thursday, 30 October 2014

Patrick Thomas: "We need a clear-sighted European policy focusing on a long term strategic vision"

Patrick Thomas
President, PlasticsEurope
and
CEO, Bayer MaterialScience


Speaker at PolyTalk 2014
Do you believe Europe is serious about an industrial renaissance and does it have the means to launch one? What are your views on a European Industrial Revolution?

In general, I very much welcome the European Commission’s increased focus on the industrial sector. If you take our industry as an example, initiatives that help the plastics industry have a major knock-on effect further down the chain to SMEs. Europe has a competitive edge in terms of innovation and our industry consistently demonstrates its ability to develop innovative products and novel industrial processes that not only benefit society, but the environment as well. But, if I have a criticism, it is that Europe should be welcoming and employing these leading technologies more than it currently does. To help achieve this, we require policies that better support industry in areas like innovation and particularly its implementation. Policies in the areas of research, education in general and science education are examples. We, as an industry, also have a role to play in raising the awareness of European citizens to the critical role our industry plays in securing improved living standards, as well as enabling and driving innovations that address some of the major threats to society now and in the future. Climate change, increasing urbanization, scarcity of resources and caring for an ageing population are just some of the problems that our industry is addressing through innovation. I believe we need a clear-sighted European policy focusing on a long term strategic vision and not simply a series of targets. If we are to get to where I believe the vast majority of European society wants to reach, we have to work together in Public Private Partnerships and not independently as we appear to be doing at the moment.

In your opinion, what should Europe do to strengthen its economy and keep its industrial base?

A strong industrial base must be the foundation for strengthening the European economy, in terms of employment and trade. There are many ways that Europe can help to strengthen the industrial base; through competitive and sustainable energy, for example. There is huge potential to increase energy efficiency in buildings, where our industry makes key contributions, and Europe can also push for global solutions to the climate change challenge. We need a true single market and free trade agreements with other regions of the world since the markets are now global. But also, we need legislative frameworks for our industry that are based on scientific evidence.

What assets can the plastics industry bring to the European economy?

I think we are already bringing a lot of benefits to the European economy, and hopefully we can strengthen these further: cutting edge technology, employment, leading the way in demonstrating energy efficiency, large investments in R&D and supplying innovative SMEs.

This November PlasticsEurope will organise PolyTalk, the industry summit, dedicated to Europe's Industrial Renaissance. Why is it a must for member companies and external stakeholders to attend this summit of the plastics industry?

Both the European decision makers and our industry want to see healthy industries in Europe. We can only move forward on this through joint dialogue and cooperation – it is important for stakeholders to exchange in order to get policy frameworks and road maps that lead to sustainable growth. For anything to be sustainable, it needs to address all three aspects: people, planet and profit. PolyTalk is gathering some of the main policy makers and industry representatives so I for one am looking forward to the opportunity of meeting and discussing with a range of stakeholders and I do encourage PlasticsEurope members to be there and to join the dialogue.   

Thursday, 23 October 2014

Prof. James Woudhuysen: "People repeat the mantra that resources are running out, yet new resources are being discovered every day."

Prof. James Woudhuysen
Former Professor of Forecasting and Innovation,
De Montfort University, Leicester


Speaker at PolyTalk2014
Will technological innovations be developed in time to boost economic growth and help overcoming today’s environmental/societal challenges?

People repeat the mantra that resources are running out, yet new resources are being discovered every day. People see salvation in a circular economy, when trends point toward a stagnant, financialised, vertical economy.


The culture of fear, and the cultural preference for bans, outdo even the culture of regulation in slowing the pace of technological change. Technology is reduced to



(1) IT
and
(2) eco-innovation

Advances in new materials, textiles, pipeline technology, transport, energy and construction are already much slower than they need to be. Robots are not coming in the quantities that are needed. Genetic engineering in agriculture, like the development of new antibiotics, is only just beginning.


Corporate and state budgets for R&D are often weak, and are certainly modest around Europe’s nascent New Carbon Infrastructure. To overcome post-2008 ennui, officialdom must start to see carbon as an Opportunity, not a Problem.



In one of your articles about 3D printing you affirm that “innovation’s pace depends on society’s confidence”. Do you think that confidence is lacking and if so, how can it be restored?


Confidence in the ethic of progress has been lacking for many years now, like confidence in the merits of economic growth. The slowdown in innovation since around 1971 has been interpreted in a very pessimistic way.


What is also interesting, despite the atmosphere of apprehension, is the ridiculous amounts of confidence placed in:


(1) Price signals, the European Trading System for carbon and carbon taxes

(2) IT, especially IT that lowers demand for transport and energy
(3) Cars that are shared, rented, driverless and that operate in compact cities
(4) Energy efficiency, the ‘hydrogen economy’ and the generation of electricity by decentralised means
(5) Patronising, intrusive and unsuccessful state ‘nudges’ to people to change their ‘behaviours’.

Confidence can be restored if ambitious programmes of fundamental, blue skies research are combined with full public debate on supply-side solutions. Neither corporations, nor the EU, can be relied upon to support these things: we must rely on our own efforts.



In your view, what will be the most innovative sectors in years to come?

All of the sectors I have mentioned could prove very dynamic if we question official objections and policy dogmas, improve our language, and improve our visualisation of scientific and technological data.


We could also add Small Modular Reactors and fusion power to the list of innovative sectors, if the political will can be found.


Some of the sectors most relevant to the plastics industry are likely to be:


(1) Carbon Capture and Storage

(2) Air capture of CO2
(3) Self-cleaning textiles
(4) 3D-printed medical implants (PEEK, etc)
(5) Carbon fibre
(6) Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)
(7) Graphene
(8) Applications of paper in construction and batteries
(9) Biorefineries
(10) The automated printing of nearly any kind of material on nearly any other kind of material
(11) New biofuels, combined with higher agricultural yields.


Will the advances on technological innovations change our understanding of mass production? How will it affect the industry?


In energy, petit-bourgeois utopias – of families living ‘off-grid’ and decentralised electricity supply systems being invulnerable to terrorist attack – have entranced environmentalists. In design, the small-is-beautiful influence of Gandhi, Schumacher, Illich, Lovins, Papanek and their successors is both unnoticed and unchallenged. In the US, the ‘maker movement’ has revived the producer ideology of the 19th century homesteader.


Yet the results of this programme in terms of output, cheapness, durability, reliability and market share have been a big fat zero over more than 40 years. In India, the largest and most exacting case, none of these methods has produced much more than a local difference to a village. Nevertheless, India’s two million Non-Governmental Organisations continue to advocate labour-intensive alternatives to mass production.


Capitalism has always allowed some customisation of individual products. It will add to this trend – but it will still not amount to much. Since Adam Smith (1776), arguments in favour of economies of scale and even of scope have proved incontrovertible. What developing countries and the USA’s 50m poverty-line inhabitants both need is more, cheaper and better universal products. What they don’t need is obsessively personalised dear ones, built in short batch runs.



What would you say to people who have concerns regarding shale gas extraction?


Get a life!


First, work out whether you really want to mount no fewer than eight groups of objections:


(1) Heavy vehicle traffic – especially water tankers

(2) Footprint vs land, crops, air, silence, wildlife, recreation, tourism
(3) Fraccidents
(4) Earthquakes, subsidence
(5) Irreversible subsurface contamination: benzene, toluene, H2S, lead, cadmium, chromium, radium
(6) Surface water contamination vs land, crops, wildlife
(7) Water shortages eg China
(8) Fugitive methane, fossil fuel emissions and their effects on climate change

Next, ask why so few class actions against shale have been brought in the US. Have hundred really caught fire from their taps, or died at the wellhead? Has every victim really been bribed? Is there really a mass conspiracy and cover-up by Big Oil and its friends in high places?


Next, recognise that, aided by sophisticated forms of IT, horizontal drilling has become much more accurate, and levels of productivity are rising.


Last, power plants fired by shale gas can and should be equipped with Carbon Capture and Storage.


Yes, drilling for shale gas and oil cannot and should not happen everywhere. But to argue that it should happen nowhere is unprincipled, and retrogressive.

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

Detlef Eckert: "More needs to be done to align education with the skills needed on the labour market"

                             Detlef Eckert
Director for Europe 2020 & Employment Policies
                    European Commission

                  Speaker at PolyTalk 2014
In your opinion, are European universities providing the necessary skills to young generations to be qualified for the labour market?

  • More needs to be done to align education with the skills needed on the labour market.
  • Only one in three employers finds graduates to be prepared for their first job.
  • Many initiatives have been taken to partner employers with educational institution, but change is too slow.
  • In many Member States monitoring of the changes to skills demand on the labour market is weak and tools for systematic monitoring are missing.
  • As Member States develop their skills governance system they should include incentives for education institutions to adapt the educational offer.
  • Employers should play a more active role in helping educational institutions adjusting to changes in skill demand.

What will be the future trends in the European labour market?
  • Employment growth is currently and will likely be service-based in the future
         - Basic services (25% of EU employment)
         - Professional business services (15% of EU employment)
         - Both sources of net job creation during the crisis 
  • Industry currently employs about 15% of European workforce, down from 20% in the mid 1990s.
  • Labour demand risks creating an increasing polarisation between relatively well-paid jobs especially in knowledge-intensive services and low-paid jobs in personal services,
  • The traditional employment model, fulltime work until retirement will be less common. Employment relationships will be less predictable and people will go through more changes in their working like
  • Global warming and the decrease of natural resources will lead to new skill requirements
  • Technological changes will bring about productivity gains if harnessed correctly and accompanied by a properly aligned skills based policy to support labour demand.
  • Demographic projections are worth a reflection: by 2030 the EU will have 14 million more workers aged 55-64 and 9 million less young workers in the 15-24 year old cohort than 2005.
  • Need to ensure more female labour market participation and longer working lives

Is Europe implementing the right policies to ensure economic growth and therefore job creation?

  • Job creation results from the combination of right stimula to labour demand, dynamic labour market institutions and investments in human capital in line with companies’ needs
  • Bolder action to ensure the access of small firms to capital, cutting unnecessary red-tape, and promoting the creation of new enterprises will be key for growth
  • Decreasing labour taxation by shifting the tax burden towards less growth-unfriendly sources has been one important policy guideline set by the Commission. Efforts have been insufficient so far
  • important labour market reforms to simplify hiring procedures and predictable firing costs set a promising institutional environment for investments to have strong employment reward
  • The Commission supports the effort of the social partners to bargain meaningful wage agreements across sectors and in firms. Wage developments especially at the company level are crucial to ensure high levels of labour productivity.
  • Structural reforms need to be accompanied by appropriate investments in human capital formation.
  • The Commission has called for a systematic investment by Member States in skills, this includes:
    - producing comprehensive analyses of skills demand from the economy
    - setting up good quality and accessible institutions for skills formation, including                               vocational education and training systems and lifelong learning
    - orientating education and training curricula towards the most sought occupations.  


What measures would you like to see the plastics industry put in place to help solve Youth unemployment? Europe’s growth?

  • Help fight youth unemployment by playing an active role in the field of vocational and educational training (VET) and in particular in promoting work-based learning. 
  • Work together with VET providers across Europe to help them design VET programmes that equip students with the right skills and competences, i.e. those that are in demand in the labour market. 
  • Plastic manufacturers are encouraged to join the European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAFA) by submitting a pledge. Pledges should contain concrete commitment and actions to improve the quality and supply of apprenticeships such as:
         - developing apprenticeship-type training in companies that have not previously                                        engaged in this form of training
         - considering transferring a successful apprenticeship model which the company uses in                          one country/region to another country/region where the company is active but has not                            previously trained apprentices

         - or reviewing an existing apprenticeship model in the company in order to explore how                            the quantity, quality, efficiency or visibility of this training could be increased.