A cosier world with plastics!

When properly installed, plastic insulation can cut heat or cold loss at home or school by up to 70%, making it so much warmer or cooler, cosier and energy-efficient!

At present, “zero-energy houses”, are already tried and-tested throughout Europe. These houses consume no fossil fuel, i.e. gas or oil at all. It is partly due to the use of modern polymer materials that zero energy houses will become more widespread in the future. With plastics, even historical buildings can be converted into energy-saving houses. One perfect example of this is the renovation of a 210 year-old listed timber-framework building in Babenhausen/Germany. Thanks to insulation with plastics materials, this building is now a low-energy house.

Modern plastics are not only important for thermal insulation measures:

• Plastic thermal insulation panels protect buildings from weather damage and increase the building’s durability.
• Plastic heating, water and sewage pipes are vastly superior to conventional pipe systems: the production of plastic pipes is more cost-efficient and uses less energy; plastic pipes are more flexible than metal pipes, non-corrosive and guarantee high-quality drinking water.
• Metal water pipes damaged by lime scale can be repaired by means of a special plastic-resin coating to protect the pipes from future lime scale damage

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Lighter cars with plastics!

Plastic is an ideal material for use in car manufacturing. A modern mid-range car contains about 11% plastic material components. That means less weight, less fuel consumption and therefore less CO2 emissions.

There are an almost infinite number of areas of application for polymer materials. Made from plastics, individual parts such as valve caps, air filters and air intake pipes can be integrated into one unit. Formerly made from metal, today’s air intake pipes and fuel tanks are almost entirely made from plastics: they are non-corrosive and easier to mount, while also saving between 40’% and 50% in weight. Plastics have also taken the place of glass in modern automotive engineering. Modern headlights, rear lights and even rear and side windows are made of plastics,

A modern mid-range car with a weight of about 1,000 kg contains about 15%, i.e. 150 kg, of plastic material: car body parts such as spoilers and bumpers, instrument panels and headlights are made from plastics, as are side trim and interior trim, seats and airbags, carpets, tires, seals and gaskets, fan belts, gearbox mountings, engine covers and many small components.

There are a variety of other ways in which cars can improve their environmental performance. One example is hybrid vehicles, which partly thanks to plastics, combine a traditional petrol engine with an electric battery. Car manufacturer BMW has developed a car powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which produce no emissions whatsoever.

In conventional vehicle design, metal and plastics were generally treated as opposing materials, one excluding the use of the other. The future, however, belongs to hybrid technology, which uses the benefits of combining both materials in one unit. This approach increases the sturdiness and strength of the products and additional features can be integrated easier andin a more compact manner. This way, the weight of the finished product is about 40% less than that of a pure metal construction!

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Flying further on less fuel with plastics!

Did you know that plastics are being used to replace more and more aircraft parts? The wing boxes of the Airbus A380 use plastic fibre composites, which reduces the aircraft by 1.5 tons. The aircraft can fly further and carry more cargo using the same amount of fuel, talk about energy-efficiency!

Aviation and aerospace engineering are inconceivable without plastics

A mere glance at the interior of an aircraft will confirm this statement. Be it doors, windows, seats, interior trim or equipment, when designing an aircraft, every gram counts in order to minimize weight to maximise speed. But heavy duty plastics are indispensable for the compliance with the stringent safety requirements of sensitive parts such as rudders and stabilisers, wing housings, flaps, spoilers and last but not least, tyres.

Airbus A380 – a world record made from plastics

The Airbus A380-800 can transport up to 853 passengers – 555 in the standard version – which makes it the largest passenger aircraft in the world. Fibre composites account for about 25% of the material that goes into making this plane. Thanks to this technological innovation, a fully occupied A380 can cover a range of 14,800 km and uses only 3.3 litres of kerosene per passenger on 100 km. With these features, the A380 clearly outperforms the Boeing 747-800, which accommodates 390 passengers, and not only in terms of size. The Boeing 747 has a range of 12,200 km and a kerosene consumption of 4.3 litres per passenger on 100 km.

Lighter, quieter and better for the environment – the aircraft of the future…

But the A380 does not mark the end of the scale. In the future, composites are expected to account for 40% of the material that is used to build wide-bodied aircraft. Equipped with plastic fuselage and wings, these aircraft will provide superior strength and aerodynamics.

Thanks to the weight reduction of these planes of the future, the carbon dioxide and nitrogen emissions are expected to be respectively reduced by 50% and 80%.

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Switch off the engine with plastics!

Using plastic to exploit the power of the wind can reduce a ship’s fuel consumption considerably, which means lower oil consumption and less CO2 emissions!

6,800 Horse power generated by wind power – sailing container ships

The next-generation power engine for cargo ships, yachts, large oil tankers and cruise liners is currently been produced in series: a wind-powered towing kite propulsion system. The towing sails manufactured by SkySails consist of a large towing kite similar to a paraglider of up to 5,000 m2 in size. The propulsion system uses offshore wind power to tow the ship along its required course. With a propulsion power of up to 6,800 PS, the aerofoil relieves the ship’s engine and reduces the vessel’s fuel consumption by up to 50% in favourable sailing conditions. The environmentally friendly, innovative towing kite with fully automatic control is made from high-strength, weather-resistant plastic fabrics.

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A lighter world with plastics!

Plastics can even help you conserve your own energy! Plastic packaging means lighter shopping to carry home.

From heavy duty to delicate: the magic packaging material

Several million tonnes of food and goods are transported from manufacturer to end consumer – from toothbrushes to heavy-duty machinery, fruit, beverages, meat or pharmaceuticals: the production of these goods often consumes a significant amount of energy and they have to be delivered to the customer quickly and without damage. There is hardly a material as versatile and as suitable for a high number of intelligent and environmentally-friendly packaging solutions as plastics.

Wafer thin film with a weight of only a few milligrams can protect and seal meat, fruit, vegetables, cheese and coffee while also ensuring that these products are still fresh and healthy when they reach their final destination. Fish is a perfect example: from the minute it is caught at sea to its final storage in the freezer, it needs to be kept cool at all times. This would be impossible to achieve without modern polymer materials.

No matter how wide the variety of plastic packaging, they all have one thing in common: they are becoming lighter, less bulky and more resilient. These features not only help cut down on the waste of valuable raw materials, it also reduces the weight to be transported and the corresponding transport costs for both disposable and returnable products. On average, plastic packaging accounts for only between 1% and 3% of the total product weight. It takes 2 grams of plastic film to package 200 grams of cheese. 1.5 litres of liquid can be safely stored in a bottle with a weight of only 38 grams and a tub containing 125 grams of yoghurt weighs only 4.5 grams. The ecological balance sheet of plastic packaging, i.e. the sum total of the corresponding energy consumption for production, transport and disposal and other effects on the environment is often second to none.

The plastics industry’s record on light weighting is excellent. As new technologies and new designs are developed, less and less material is needed for the same effect and purpose.Thanks to the light weight of plastics, transport costs and emissions are reduced. For example, when yoghurts are packed in glass pots, 36% of the weight is packaging. When they are packed in plastics, packaging accounts only for 3.5%. 3 trucks are needed to transport yoghurt packed in glass, only 2 for plastic pots. Overall 10 million litres extra petrol or diesel would be needed and 22 million kilo of CO2 extra would be emitted if all plastics packaging was to be replaced by alternatives.

In 1970 the average plastics yoghurt pot weighed 11.8g, but in 1990 only 5g was needed to package the same amount. Similarly, a plastics detergent bottle weighed 300g, and by 1985 this had been reduced to just 100g. For film the use of less and less material for the same use has been very dramatic - from 180µm 15 years ago to 80µm thick material now. Sacks have halved in thickness (from 300 µm to 165 µm) and carrier bags are now 15 µm thick (from 45 µm 10 years ago). The average weight of stretch wrap for pallet wrap is now 350 g replacing the 1400g of shrink wrap used ten years ago.

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Keeping it cool with plastics!

Today’s refrigerators use plastics in their insulation systems to ensure that your food and drinks stay fresher and cooler for longer whilst using less energy!

At home: Making people’s life easier.. and nature’s, too

Washing machines, refrigerators, flat-screen monitors, dishwashers – plastics have become so commonplace that we hardly notice them anymore. Plastics, however, not only make our lives easier when it comes to cooking or washing the dishes. Modern polymer materials help us economise on valuable resources such as energy and water in a way that would have been inconceivable only a few years ago.

Using less electricity

Until recently, cooling devices and refrigerators were rated among the most substantial energy wasters of modern households. Today’s modern refrigerators in the efficiency class A operate with up to 50% less energy than those built in 1990. Devices equipped with state-of-the-art technology of efficiency class A++ consume even 70% less. This is the benefit of premium quality plastic insulation foam. It keeps the cold in where it belongs – now there's a real energy saver!

Thanks to smart plastics engineering, the water consumption of modern washing machines is as low as never before: the plastic tub enclosing the drum fits accurately and minimises the occurrence of dead spots, where unused water could gather. While in the years between 1985 and 1990 washing machines used about 100 litres of water per washing cycle, modern machines and modern detergents have helped cut this figure to between 50 and 60 litres. In 24 million households in France, which use their washing machines about 100 times a year, this improvement saves at least 950 million litres of valuable drinking water.

Correspondingly, heating it consumes less energy. Even our little plastic showerhead offers more than meets the eye: a sophisticated water system reduces the water consumption by up to 50%.

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More light for less energy!

Innovative technology and special plastic lenses used in today’s LEDs means that they are twice as bright as conventional types using the same amount of energy!

LED, Light-Emitting Diode...latest technology in lighting

LEDs have an extremely long life span. Manufacturers calculated the ETTF (Estimated Time To Failure) for their LEDs to be between 100,000 and 1,000,000 hours Fluorescent tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 hours, and incandescent light bulbs at 1,000-2,000 hours. LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to damage with external shock. Fluorescent and incandescent bulbs are easily broken if dropped on the ground. The solid package of an LED can be designed to focus its light. Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable manner. Thanks to modern plastics material LED lighting offers both uniform light diffusion to eliminate (LED) “pinholes” and a view of light sources, and superior light transmission for exceptional optical brightness at lower energy costs.

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Tapping the sun’s energy with plastics!

Did you know that harnessing solar power would be impossible without plastics? Solar panels are partly made from plastics, and solar power is a free, highly efficient energy source!

The development of renewable energy resources is booming. Solar and wind power, geothermal heat and biomass are inexhaustible. The Sun generates 15,000 times more energy than the total primary energy consumed worldwide in one year. Already, entire regions in Europe are using renewable energy to meet almost all of their heating, hot water and electricity requirements – with innovative solutions made from state of the art plastics!

Solar power

Even when the skies are grey, modern solar water heaters can heat up to 65% of a household’s annual hot water demand. Photovoltaic collectors that can convert solar energy into electricity can cover the remaining energy requirements of a Passive House at the very least. This would be impossible without plastics as many important components such as the collector housing, the pipe insulation or even the central control system are made from polymer materials.

Renewable energy

With major prospects for the future, Europe will take a leading part in the development of new sources for renewable energy. At a meeting in Brussels held in March 2007, the EU‘s 27 heads of state and government agreed to boost the share of renewable energies in the European energy balance from currently 6.4% to 20% by 2020. Intelligent plastics solutions will make a substantial contribution to the improvement of the energy balance sheet.

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Wind power is free but did you know that capturing the power of the wind would be impossible without plastics? Special plastics are used in the wind turbine covers and huge blades to tap into this environmentally friendly energy source!

The development of renewable energy resources is booming. Solar and wind power, geothermal heat and biomass are inexhaustible. Already, entire regions in Europe are using renewable energy to meet their heating, hot water and electricity requirements with innovative solutions made from state of the art plastics!

Wind Power – the year round

Wind power is only one of many possibilities of using renewable energy. In order to tap this energy on a commercial scale, windmills must be equipped with very long rotor blades. These blades are almost entirely made from fibre-reinforced plastics, as only this material is able to withstand the permanent mechanical stress on a rotor of this size. At present, offshore windmills are built with a rotor diameter of 125 m and a rated output of five megawatts of electricity.

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A better world with plastics!

Did you know that we use plastics to keep our homes warmer or cooler, our cars lighter and our food fresher? Plastics are also used to harness wind and solar energy resources cleanly and efficiently!

Plastic is the sustainable raw material that contributes efficiently to preserving resources, protecting the climate and improving our quality of life…

Plastics production consumes only a small amount of raw material as they use up only 4% of the total amount of oil and gas production in Europe. In contrast, almost 90% of oil is consumed by heating and fuel, which is a one-off and short term deployment. Plastics products have a long service life, high wear resistance and they remain useful at their end-of-life either via recycling or recovery.

In transport, cars can be made lighter and safer by using light, high-performance and modern plastics materials both in the body of the car and in the engine. Transport of packaged goods is another area where plastics play a major role in reducing the environmental impact. Compared with other materials, plastics are up to 85% lighter, which significantly reduces the energy consumed by cars, commercial vehicles, trains, buses and aircraft. A car with 100 kg less weight consumes up to 0.6 litres less fuel over a distance of 100 km.

Besides transport, housing is the second biggest consumer of energy. Plastics make great insulators and sealers which helps enormously in improving energy efficiency and reducing harmful C02 emissions. Plastics offer innovative, competent and reliable solutions for comfortable, energy efficient buildings, which are effective both in hot and cold climates and can be adapted to various architectural traditions. Furthermore, the energy stored in the plastic product can be re-used by means of recycling or retrieved for the production of heat in cogeneration plants.

Indeed, plastics are indispensable for the production of solar cells, solar panels and windmills, as they are weather-resistant, durable and meet maximum safety standards.

Improving our quality of life

Do you know that browsing the internet would be impossible without super fast plastic-coated broadband cable? Do you know that plastics are a major contributor to the trend of miniaturisation which protects resources in a tangible way? Do you know that breakthrough in medical research would be impossible without plastics?

A wide array of modern applications in various areas would be impossible without plastics. The versatility of this material makes it unique and allows new and groundbreaking innovations in all areas related to human life.

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