Plants continue to amaze me with how adaptable the products from them can be, and how many functions they can contribute to, often replacing the petroleum based current generation of products.
Sustainable production of these plant materials seems a no brainer, if petroleum products continue to increase in price, as is expected. If peak oil is nigh, then NOW is the time to really investigate the substitution of oil based with plant based products.
This link http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep09/petroleum0909.htm
takes you a recent ARS publication where a few of these are discussed. Many will have heard of starch based "polystyrene" substitutes, which are fully biodegradeable, in fact mostly compostable. These are now becoming more mainstream in Australia, although the USA has much wider use. They are just one product among many options.
Oil additives for lubrication especially high end areas, are a developing field with opportunities to replace oil based products with plant substitutes.
While this is US work, it applies very much to Australia as well. While we do not always manufacture these products, it does open up opportunities to develop some new options.
And we do sure need that.........NOW.
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