[LINK] Of nomads and nanotech [Was: 'New mobile phones will double as credit cards']

[Geoffrey Ramadan]

Jan Whitaker wrote:
> At 08:46 AM 29/04/2007, Ivan Trundle wrote:
>> Interestingly, a recent survey of Americans showed that 70% are
>> unaware that most plastics come from oil. 40% believed that plastics
>> biodegrade, too (okay, technically this is correct - but the
>> timescale is far greater than the survey participants).
>
> I checked this with a polymer engineer last month. It was one of those 
> synchronicity things. I had been thinking about what would happen to 
> all the incidental plastic we use today when oil is either so dear or 
> no longer available. This guy said there are current alternatives. The 
> plastics are made out of lots of different things, not just oil. 
> Natural gas for example. Even plant materials. Wiki has a decent 
> article on the subject.
We are evaluating bio plastics (from grain products) from
http://www.newcomposite.net/
" New Composite Partners is a technology consulting firm that enables 
plastic and plastic composite manufacturers to reduce the amount of 
plastic they use by replacing petroleum-based inputs with renewable 
grain products. New Composite Partners takes an inventory of our 
client’s molded plastic and composite plastic products, and then 
develops alternative formulas for those products. Our formulas reduce 
cost, weight and plastic consumption."

Though this is not new technology, what is driving the interest of 
course is that this technology is now comparable in cost or better than 
petroleum based plastics.

Reg
Geoffrey Ramadan B.E.(Elec)
Chairman, Automatic Data Capture Association (www.adca.com.au)
and
Managing Director, Unique Micro Design (www.umd.com.au)

>
> Jan
>
>
> Jan Whitaker
> JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
> business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
> personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
> commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
>
> 'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, 
> there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005