Much have been written and said about the global ecological crisis we are facing, a crisis which is caused by an exponential increase in the consumption of energy and raw materials, and use of substances harmful to the environment. Furthermore, the mountains of waste - some of which are poluting the ecosystem - are growing to unacceptable heights. These problems mainly apply to the developed countries. Thus, we cannot go on with the present methods of production even if we wish to maintain the present level of production. However, we are not going to maintain this level but to increase it considerably. Politically there is an internationally growing understanding that the less developed countries must have a higher living standard. Furthermore, the world population is estimated to double within the next 35 years. As a result, the world production may treble or quadruple within the next 35 years, as the ecosystem is already threatened, new ways have to be found for future consumption. It is obvious that the energy expenditure has to be cut or kept at an acceptable level. Politically this is well understood and as a result there is a growing interest in the use of biomass for energy and a lot of resources have been put in to research and development of bio energy projects. What is less politically understood or even known is the potential for industrial use of biomass for new materials and products. If we are going to multiply the world production in the future where shall the raw material then come from? Obviously more and more products have to be made from renewable resources, which means biomass. But how much money has been put into this kind of research? As I far as we know, it is relatively little.
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