Dow - NREL partnership

The partnership that has emerged between Dow and NREL is a good idea for the primary reason that chemical companies need to develop alternate feedstocks besides traditional petroleum ones. This partnership will demonstrate the feasibility of using alternate cellulosic biomass feedstocks, which should be able to reduce production costs. The benefits will be twofold. First, reduced production costs can be passed on to other businesses and consumers. Second, use of biomass feedstock will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

Technology Review article about the partnership

Biofuels Independent Study - final draft

I received my JD back in May, and as part of my last semester courseload I wrote an independent study on the patentability of biofuels, entitled "A Patent-based Approach to Development and Commercialization of Cellulosic Biofuels." This is the introductory paragraph- I will publish more in the future.

Biofuels, which are fuels made from biomass feedstock, are the key to solving two prominent issues confronting the United States today. These are how to achieve energy independence and how to reduce carbon emissions. As world crude oil reserves and discoveries of major new sources of cheap crude oil decrease, reduced dependence on traditional petroleum sources becomes a necessity and a reality. As the supply of cheaply obtained crude oil becomes scarce, the price of such oil increases. The price increase makes other, previously more expensive, sources of fuel more economical. This includes alternatives to petroleum like biofuels made from biomass such as corn or cellulose. However, there are barriers to the introduction and use of biofuels and their replacement of traditional petroleum fuels.

There are two major problems with corn based ethanol: one is that it is ecologically unsustainable. To produce enough corn based ethanol to meet the United States's needs for transportation fuel, the land devoted to growing corn in this country would have to be allocated entirely to energy production needs, leaving none of that land for food or animal feedstock corn production. Second, the viability of corn-based ethanol as an alternative fuel depends on direct government subsidies, which are economically unsustainable. When government subsidies abate, there will be insufficient economic incentive to continue producing corn-based ethanol.

Cellulose-based biofuels employ the same underlying concept of using a renewable resource to generate power, but benefit from a superior match between technology and patent law protectability than corn-based ethanol. Therefore, a shift should occur from corn-based ethanol to cellulose-based biofuel production based on patent protection. Patent protection is better for cellulose-based biofuels than for corn-based ethanol. The incentives to do further research are more extensive because patent law protects the investments that researchers make, while the basic aspects of the science are protected to allow research to continue. The patent system is configured to provide the necessary incentives to develop a cellulose-based biofuel industry, without the need for direct government subsidies. Development of patent law during the twentieth century led to a patent system that is tailored to allowing commercialization of research, while encouraging further innovation by protecting basic research techniques from monopolization.

Climate Change & the Law - class 12

Yesterday we had a guest lecturer, John Fillo, who is a chemical engineer/ accountant/ consultant for an environmental compliance company in the Pittsburgh area. He spoke about climate change policies within large companies, which means that he is helping these profit motivated entities take climate change into consideration, and help change the way they do business. It was very interesting to hear what he thought the 'tenets of carbon strategy' were - such as setting goals, corporate governance, methods for carbon neutrality like sequestration or credit trading, and legislative advocacy. He also went through case studies about BP, GE, Caterpillar, and a lot of others, and discussed how each had strengths and weaknesses of dealing with Climate Change. BP had the highest 'score' - did you know they have an internal credit trading scheme?

Global Climate Change - Class 1

This semester, my last at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, I am taking the class "Climate Change and the Law" taught by Prof. Jennifer Smokelin, Esq. (adjunct, practitioner at Reed Smith LLP). Since this class corresponds with my blog topic, I will post my notes from class - hopefully in a cleaned up and understandable form.

The 3 main topics we will cover are:

1. science of climate change and technologies to mitigate effects


2. climate change control systems & regulation (at the international and national levels); the components of a successful system


3. US law in regards to climate change - in the absence of specific regulation, what can be done using existing law; [and if there is time] international litigation

The question which is hoped will be answered by addressing these topics hopes is how lawyers can add value to a discussion of problems associated with climate change, through an understanding of climate change.

We will refer to climate change and global warming as 'global climate destabilization'

There are 6 factors that need to be affirmatively answered to make global climate destabilization an issue capable of regulation:
A. There must be an identified issue or problem
B. The issue/ problem must be defined by someone
C. Human action must be the cause of the problem
D. Can and should humans address the problem
E. Who can address the problem
F. When can it be addressed, and how much will it cost

Addressing each of these factors:

A. Is there an issue/ problem?

• For complete affirmation, we must be able to prove that there is climate change
  
• Climate change can be looked at globally, but effects are felt locally (and is really how people determine if there is a problem)
  
• For instance here in pgh there is no definite problem because people are happy with the unseasonably warm weather!
  

B. Defining the problem

• define 'climate' - long term weather patterns
• define 'change' - not the same as what has happened before

how do we know that there is climate change?

• is there a certain period of time over which we look?
• it is difficult to define the terms and what they entail
• global climate destabilization is a better way to describe climate change because it is not an ambiguous description
  

Implications of this difficulty:

• since there are different climates around the world, there are different interests regarding climate change
  
• lack of consensus
• there must be 'buy in' by the relevant population (such as politicians who can institute regulatory changes)