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Monday 26 April 2010

BEEM-UP to boost building energy efficiency

A FP7 project proposal involving the SusChem inspired Smart Energy Home partnership has received a positive evaluation and entered the negotiation phase with the European Commission.

The 'Building Energy Efficiency for Massive market UPtake' (BEEM-UP) project will be a four-year undertaking with 20 partners to collaborate on the development and demonstration of technologies to renovate existing residential multi-family buildings. The project hopes to demonstrate the economic, social and technical feasibility of retrofitting existing buildings to achieve drastically reduced energy consumption.

BEEM-UP would be implemented in three sites (France, the Netherlands and Sweden) using innovative materials to achieve a 75% reduction in space heat energy consumption, as well as reducing the energy need for hot water and lighting.

For more information visit the SEH website or contact the
SEH partnership.

Friday 16 April 2010

BECOTEPS to discuss bio-economy opportunities at European Parliament

The opportunities for the European bio-economy will be discussed at a seminar organised by BECOTEPS at the European Parliament in Brussels on 5 May.

SusChem is one of nine European Technology Platforms that are party to the BECOTEPS (The Bio-Economy Technology Platforms join forces to address synergies and gaps between their Strategic Research Agendas) project.

The seminar will be hosted by four MEPs: Giles Chichester (UK), Teresa Riera Madurell (Spain), Paolo de Castro (Italy), and Romana Jordan Cizelj (Slovenia).

The meeting will be a key opportunity for a cross-section of stakeholders to consider challenges such as food security, energy, sustainability and smart bio-products and discuss new concepts developed jointly by the ETPs that can best address these challenges.

MEP Giles Chichester will welcome the participants. He will be followed by Karin Metzlaff from the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) who will outline the concept of the bio-economy and the various sectors this brings together. Then Maive Rute, European Commission Director for Biotechnologies, Agriculture, and Food Research, will present her vision of the bio-economy.

After these introductions, three experts will give presentations: Prof. Gerd Harzer from Kraft Foods with talk about ‘Sufficient and better Food’; Dr. Dirk Carrez of EuropaBio will describe ‘Smart Bioproducts’, and Ulrich Schurr from the Jülich Research Centre will present on ‘Stewardship for Natural Resources and Future Generations’.

These talks will initiate discussion not only on the specific issues presented, but also on the bio-economy at large and what various stakeholders can do in research, innovation, education and policy to make this a reality.

The meeting starts at 16:30 and will be followed by a reception in the early evening. Due to limited numbers participation is by invitation only. If you would like to participate please contact Dorothee Bongaerts at EPSO before 30 April.

BECOTEPS
The FP7 Specific Support Action (SSA) BECOTEPS was formally launched in March 2009 and is funded for two years. The project aims to increase coordination between its participating ETPs and develop recommendations for better interaction between stakeholders along product supply chains, promote sustainability, and address research synergies and knowledge gaps.
The project brings together the nine ETPs involved in the Knowledge-based Bio-Economy (KBBE) thematic area. In addition to SusChem these are:
- Plants for the Future
- Food for Life
- Farm Animal Breeding
- Global Animal Health
- Aquaculture
- Forest-Based Sector
- Biofuels; and
- Agricultural Engineering and technologies.

The European Feed Technology Center (EUFETEC) also participates in the project.

Sunday 11 April 2010

SusChem Flanders to launch at i-SUP 2010



On Wednesday, April 21 the Flanders' Strategic Initiative for Sustainable Chemistry (FISCH), initiated by essenscia flanders, is organising a special meeting during the i-SUP 2010 Conference. The event will introduce the FISCH initiative and its forthcoming position as a regional/ national platform within SusChem.

The meeting will be held in the Bach room of the ‘Oud Sint-Jan’ (Old Saint John’s Hospital) conference facility in the centre of the beautiful medieval town of Bruges and the event starts at 14:00.

Carl Van der Auwera from essenscia flanders will introduce the roadmap and business plan for FISCH and Ger Spork Innovation Manager at Cefic R&I will outline SusChem’s action plan at the European level.

Posters papers describing initiatives in sustainable chemistry are welcome and registration for the FISCH/ SusChem Flanders event is easy. Just send an e-mail to Luc Van Ginneken also indicating if you will present a poster or not.

i-Sup2010
Registration for the FISCH/SusChem Flanders event is free of charge, but is part of the larger i-SUP 2010 Conference that is taking place in Bruges from April 18 to 21.

i-SUP 2010 is a multi-level conference on sustainable production organised by VITO (the Flemish Institute for Technological Research).

A large part of the conference is devoted to sustainable chemistry including presentations from guest speakers including Sigurd Buchholz (Bayer Technology Services), Stephan Freyer (BASF), Jacco van Haveren (Wageningen University), Paul Watts (Hull University), Melvin Koch (University of Washington) and Evan Beach (Yale University).

In addition, more than 20 speakers will talk about the latest developments in bio-based chemistry, process intensification, and the European and US vision and strategy for sustainable chemistry.

For more information and registration visit the i-SUP 2010 Conference website.