Estimated Environmental Benefits Calculator

What is the calculator?

The Estimated Environmental Benefits Calculator is a tool developed by NatureWorks LLC for Ingeo licensees so they can quantify the savings in non-renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by substituting Ingeo biopolymer for traditional oil-based polymers such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in their products. Since most people can not easily relate to units like kg CO2 equivalents or mega joules, the calculator goes one step further and describes these same advantages in terms of other activities with equivalent benefits. Examples include driving a car X miles, powering a 100 watt light bulb for Y years, or conserving Z barrels of oil. These equivalent benefits can then be crafted into marketing statements appropriate to the product. This model estimates the benefits for using Ingeo biopolymer, but is not a substitute for a complete life cycle assessment (LCA). To learn more about the life cycle assessment of Ingeo, please visit the Life Cycle Assessment page.

*To understand the effect of the use of renewable energy certification in the Japan market, please contact your Ingeo account manager.

How does the calculator work?

The model estimates the savings in non-renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for one phase of the polymers’ life cycle: the cradle-to-pellet polymer production. Other aspects of the polymer life cycle such as the pellet-to-product conversion (e.g. thermoforming and film production), pellet packaging, transportation and end-of-life are not included. In many applications the polymer production phase is where a majority of the environmental benefits occur, so these comparisons provide a first estimation of the benefits over the entire life cycle of these polymers. In a second step these savings are expressed in terms of equivalent environmental scenarios.

What polymer production data is used in the Estimated Environmental Benefits Calculator?

The eco-profiles for the traditional polymers represent averages for the European polymer industry as published by PlasticsEurope. These eco-profiles are available to the public and can be found online at www.lca.plasticseurope.org.

To ensure the data is comparable, the eco-profile for Ingeo biopolymer follows the exact same methodology, uses the same software, and has been peer-reviewed by the author of the PlasticsEurope eco-profiles. The calculator model uses the Ingeo 2009 CIT eco-profile scenario. The basic data for this profile was published in Industrial Biotechnology under the name PLA5. However, since that publication signifcant manufacturing improvements have been made, thus reducing Ingeo's environemental footprint. For more detailed information, please see our press release.

Where is the environmental equivalent data from?

The conversion data for calculating equivalents came from a variety of 3rd-party sources:

EPA (2003). U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990-2001. Office of Atmospheric Programs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. EPA 430-R-03-004 (http://www.usctcgateway.gov/)
International Energy Outlook 2005, DOE/EIA-0484(2005), (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/index.html)
DOE - Properties of Fuels (www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/pdfs/fueltable.pdf)
Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) Version 1.5a, 12/2000, Argonne National Laboratory [1.12 BTU Fossil Fuel used in the production of 1 BTU of gasoline]
"Comparison of Passenger Vehicle Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards Around the World", 12/04, Prepared for the Pew Center for Global Climate Change (http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/Fuel%20Economy%20and%20GHG%20Standards_010605_110719.pdf)