New Zealand based company and thinkstep-anz client Futurity is in the process of establishing the country’s first advanced commercial biorefinery in Tairāwhiti-Gisborne. Futurity are currently undertaking a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with thinkstep-anz on the biorefinery and materials to help them conceptualise carbon footprinting data. An LCA will enable Futurity to speak transparently about ‘the benefits and net-positive impacts’ based off credible data when approaching clients.
Futurity’s co-founders Dr Gaetano Dedual and Jacob Kohn caught up with Simon Pound for The Spinoff’s ‘Business is Boring’ podcast to talk about turning pines into renewable energy, and what this means for the bioenergy scene in New Zealand.
The duo were the latest guests in the future-focused weekly series presented in association with Callaghan Innovation to discuss the need to transition away from finite sources of energy such as oil. The reliance on fossil and oil-derived fuels for everything from advanced chemicals in construction to coating and synthesising materials may lead us to be recognised as part of the ‘Oil Age’ by future generations. Futurity presents a renewable option with pine trees—a resource that is available right here in New Zealand—to create products such as advanced lignins and nanofibrillated cellulose using new techniques. These can then be used in place of fossil-fuel derived products for plastics, resins and adhesives, coatings, energy storage and more.
Moving forward
In addition to a full product carbon footprint, LCA studies also offer reliable data on key environmental indicators such as energy use, water consumption, and acidification of rain among others. The impacts are measured for the whole life cycle of products, which in the case of biogas starts with wood cultivation and can last till ‘cradle to gate’ whereby the product is ready or ‘cradle to grave’ which follows the product all the way to its end-of-life after use. The range of indicators including carbon footprinting data allow for a bigger-picture understanding of the environmental performance of products.
If you wish to find out more about LCA or have any related questions, please get in touch here.