Innovative Solutions Offer Advantages for Everyday Living
The world has seen incredible innovations from chemistry – from lighter cars, renewable fuels and sustainable water supplies, to energy efficient homes, computer chips and life-saving medicines. Dow’s Sustainable Chemistry Goal for 2015 integrates the innovative application of science and technology with societal needs and challenges to identify, commercialize and deliver solutions.
 |
 |
 |
Sustainable Chemistry encompasses a life cycle view of our products and processes in using our resources efficiently to minimize our footprint and improve the quality of the environment. We will strive for improvements in greenhouse gas emissions, fresh water use, recycled materials as feedstocks, waste reduction, and renewable raw materials.
Dow continues to deliver breakthrough improvements to our existing products and processes, as well as to the next generation of chemical solutions and technologies.
- Dow is developing solar energy collection technology called building integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs), both to serve as the outer protective surface of the building and to generate power. These new products and technologies enable solar energy generation materials to be incorporated directly into the design of commercial and residential building materials, such as roofing systems, exterior sidings and fascias.
-
IMPAXX™ energy absorbing foam can be found in nearly two million passenger cars worldwide. It is also a required safety feature in the NASCAR “Car of Tomorrow.” The foam is designed to absorb energy on impact and cushion the blow that a vehicle occupant receives. In addition, the foam is 100 percent recyclable, provides design flexibility and assembly advantages, conserves weight and improves vehicle fuel economy.
- Many of the vegetable oils used for frying, for cooking, in salad dressings, and to prepare many processed foods, contain trans fats. Most recent research shows that trans fats raise the level of “bad” cholesterol is a person’s blood, increasing the risk of heart disease. Omega-9 oils, developed by Dow AgroSciences, allow foodservice and food manufacturing to deliver healthier foods by eliminating trans fats, without compromising taste or performance. By replacing the hydrogenated oil with Omega-9 canola and sunflower oils, made from Dow AgroSciences NEXERA™ canola and sunflower seeds, foodservice workers can reduce both the saturated and trans fat content of their foods by over 80 percent.
- Dow AgroSciences LLC, a Dow subsidiary, received the 2008 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for spinetoram, an innovative insect control technology derived from a biological organism. Spinetoram provides long-lasting control of a broad spectrum of insect pests in a variety of crops, and can be applied at low rates and has low impact on most beneficial insects. Laboratory tests demonstrate that spinetoram has a favorable toxicological profile, and carries the lowest human hazard label available. It has low solubility in water, and naturally degrades into its natural building blocks by UV light and soil microbes.
-
Perth, Australia, while surrounded by an abundance of seawater, was experiencing a shortage of drinking water. Desalination was long considered an option, but it could not be justified economically – that is until advancements and innovations in FILMTEC™ reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology from Dow Water Solutions (a business unit of Dow) and the use of renewable energy, helped make the process more energy-efficient and affordable.
Improvements Dow has made over the years in its FILMTEC RO membranes have provided for a threefold increase in the volume of treated water while reducing energy requirements, helping to lower the cost of desalinated water production by as much as 20 percent. At the same time, the Emu Downs Wind Energy Farm provides electricity into the Western Australia electricity grid at 272 giga-watt-hours (GWhr) per year more than what is needed to meet the 180 GWhr per year energy requirements of the seawater desalination plant. The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant is expected to meet up to 17 percent of Perth’s drinking water needs and require 0% conventional energy sources.
