LANXESS US Chief Talks Energy
LANXESS' North America CEO pounds the table for a comprehensive US energy policy in this exclusive interview with ICIS Chemical Business
THE US needs a comprehensive energy policy with domestic production sources of oil and natural gas that must also include clean coal technology, according to Randy Dearth, president and CEO of LANXESS Corp, the North American arm of the Germany-based specialty chemical company LANXESS.
"We must force [coal] forward. This becomes an issue of competitiveness. When you consider natural gas has increased its price fourfold in the last 10 years, and when the US is competing with India, China and South America, it becomes critical to keep up," said Dearth, in an exclusive interview with ICIS Chemical Business.
Coal does come with concerns, however - one technical, the other political, he added. Technological advances have to be made regarding cleaner burning coal and reduced greenhouse gas emissions from coal use. "That's absolutely essential," said Dearth.
And if legislation were passed limiting the amount of coal that could be burned in power plants, those facilities would have to turn to natural gas, he noted.
"That would take what's an already big problem and make it larger. It would make the [US] chemical industry totally uncompetitive in the global market," said Dearth.
The US chemical industry has lost roughly 125,000 jobs in the last eight to nine years, noted Dearth. "A lot of it is due to the fact that our energy prices are so much higher."
It is up to the industry to be proactive with the new Congress and Obama Administration, said Dearth. "We don't have much time - things are happening quickly."
But the key to any energy policy involves the US increasing domestic oil and gas production. "If President Obama is truly going to stick to his bipartisan approach, which I hope he does, there was a broad consensus across both parties for drilling for natural gas and oil''
''We need to, as an industry, be part of the solution by providing these technologies and taking on the challenges," said Dearth.
Driving to Washington
While the Obama Administration and much of Congress is quite new, it has been hard to tell what their positions might become, notes Dearth. However, it is up to the industry to get to Washington and talk with them.
"We want to have a seat at the table and we want to be part of the solution," he said. "As an industry, we need to listen to what's being debated in Washington, D.C., and be prepared to have the answers to solve the problems. We've done it in the past, and I'm convinced we are going to do it in the future."
Using the automobile industry as an example of a business vital to US chemical manufacturers, Dearth points out that chemical producers can solve some of the problems they are facing. "To reduce the weight of a car or to improve the tires, chemistry has the answers," he says.
Reducing emissions through a cap-and-trade system is a complex issue, bringing forward many questions, Dearth said - for example: how will the system be monitored and how will it be enforced?
"There are tremendous disputes over the initial allocation methodology," said Dearth. He added that the bottom line is that Congress has to do something to lower emissions. "They have to come up with a program, and no matter how they do it, we think it is important that the program will boost energy efficiency and conservation, as well as energy diversity," like wind, solar or nuclear power.
The chemical industry as a whole, has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 13% since 1990, exceeding the Kyoto Protocols, "despite the fact that production is higher now than it's ever been," said Dearth. During that same period, the industry also improved its energy efficiency by 27%, he said.
Education programs needed
Another top priority for the US chemical industry is education, maintains Dearth.
There is the fear that the lack of adequate science and math education in the US will dovetail with the fact that a large percentage of the chemists and engineers in the US will be retiring in the next 10 years, to create a situation where there is not enough domestic personnel to operate facilities properly.
Less than 33% of the fourth and eighth graders in the US are proficient in math and science, noted Dearth, with only 41% of US eighth graders taught by a certified math teacher. Internationally, that average is 71%, he noted.
US twelfth graders are ranked 17th globally in science and math, and last in physics. In 2004, China had 500,000 graduating engineers, India had 200,000, and the US 70,000.
"We have a growing problem in the US that needs to be addressed. If we as an industry do not act, I think we are going to have a tremendous problem in the next decade," said Dearth.
Companies need to get out and work with their schools and universities to provide mentoring, money and equipment, he noted.
LANXESS has developed the Xplore Science program, similar to Bayer's Making Science Make Sense program. It is a mentoring scheme that takes LANXESS personnel, usually chemists, and pairs them with schools from the area to speak about careers in chemistry.
LANXESS was spun off from Bayer in 2005. The company's green initiatives have included using carbon dioxide neutral sugar cane as a fuel source for its Brazilian facility.
The Porto Feliz-based facility is gradually replacing fossil fuels with renewable resources.
LANXESS has also been successfully reducing its energy consumption and environmental footprint at its facility in Orange, Texas, US, and at the Chardon, Ohio, US, manufacturing facility run by LANXESS company Rhein Chemie.
THE US needs a comprehensive energy policy with domestic production sources of oil and natural gas that must also include clean coal technology, according to Randy Dearth, president and CEO of LANXESS Corp, the North American arm of the Germany-based specialty chemical company LANXESS.
"We must force [coal] forward. This becomes an issue of competitiveness. When you consider natural gas has increased its price fourfold in the last 10 years, and when the US is competing with India, China and South America, it becomes critical to keep up," said Dearth, in an exclusive interview with ICIS Chemical Business.
Coal does come with concerns, however - one technical, the other political, he added. Technological advances have to be made regarding cleaner burning coal and reduced greenhouse gas emissions from coal use. "That's absolutely essential," said Dearth.
And if legislation were passed limiting the amount of coal that could be burned in power plants, those facilities would have to turn to natural gas, he noted.
"That would take what's an already big problem and make it larger. It would make the [US] chemical industry totally uncompetitive in the global market," said Dearth.
The US chemical industry has lost roughly 125,000 jobs in the last eight to nine years, noted Dearth. "A lot of it is due to the fact that our energy prices are so much higher."
It is up to the industry to be proactive with the new Congress and Obama Administration, said Dearth. "We don't have much time - things are happening quickly."
But the key to any energy policy involves the US increasing domestic oil and gas production. "If President Obama is truly going to stick to his bipartisan approach, which I hope he does, there was a broad consensus across both parties for drilling for natural gas and oil''
''We need to, as an industry, be part of the solution by providing these technologies and taking on the challenges," said Dearth.
Driving to Washington
While the Obama Administration and much of Congress is quite new, it has been hard to tell what their positions might become, notes Dearth. However, it is up to the industry to get to Washington and talk with them.
"We want to have a seat at the table and we want to be part of the solution," he said. "As an industry, we need to listen to what's being debated in Washington, D.C., and be prepared to have the answers to solve the problems. We've done it in the past, and I'm convinced we are going to do it in the future."
Using the automobile industry as an example of a business vital to US chemical manufacturers, Dearth points out that chemical producers can solve some of the problems they are facing. "To reduce the weight of a car or to improve the tires, chemistry has the answers," he says.
Reducing emissions through a cap-and-trade system is a complex issue, bringing forward many questions, Dearth said - for example: how will the system be monitored and how will it be enforced?
"There are tremendous disputes over the initial allocation methodology," said Dearth. He added that the bottom line is that Congress has to do something to lower emissions. "They have to come up with a program, and no matter how they do it, we think it is important that the program will boost energy efficiency and conservation, as well as energy diversity," like wind, solar or nuclear power.
The chemical industry as a whole, has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 13% since 1990, exceeding the Kyoto Protocols, "despite the fact that production is higher now than it's ever been," said Dearth. During that same period, the industry also improved its energy efficiency by 27%, he said.
Education programs needed
Another top priority for the US chemical industry is education, maintains Dearth.
There is the fear that the lack of adequate science and math education in the US will dovetail with the fact that a large percentage of the chemists and engineers in the US will be retiring in the next 10 years, to create a situation where there is not enough domestic personnel to operate facilities properly.
Less than 33% of the fourth and eighth graders in the US are proficient in math and science, noted Dearth, with only 41% of US eighth graders taught by a certified math teacher. Internationally, that average is 71%, he noted.
US twelfth graders are ranked 17th globally in science and math, and last in physics. In 2004, China had 500,000 graduating engineers, India had 200,000, and the US 70,000.
"We have a growing problem in the US that needs to be addressed. If we as an industry do not act, I think we are going to have a tremendous problem in the next decade," said Dearth.
Companies need to get out and work with their schools and universities to provide mentoring, money and equipment, he noted.
LANXESS has developed the Xplore Science program, similar to Bayer's Making Science Make Sense program. It is a mentoring scheme that takes LANXESS personnel, usually chemists, and pairs them with schools from the area to speak about careers in chemistry.
LANXESS was spun off from Bayer in 2005. The company's green initiatives have included using carbon dioxide neutral sugar cane as a fuel source for its Brazilian facility.
The Porto Feliz-based facility is gradually replacing fossil fuels with renewable resources.
LANXESS has also been successfully reducing its energy consumption and environmental footprint at its facility in Orange, Texas, US, and at the Chardon, Ohio, US, manufacturing facility run by LANXESS company Rhein Chemie.
source: www.ICIS.com
