Sander van den Burg

Consumer-Oriented Monitoring and Environmental Reform

The monitoring of environmental flows is usually considered an important first step in realising environmental reform of production and consumption. When citizen-consumers are involved, monitoring is frequently associated with surveillance and social control by the powerful (governmental and nongovernmental) providers of goods and services. The authors investigate the future perspectives for monitoring that empowers citizen-consumers. Post-Fordism, chain inversion, and liberalisation allow for consumer-oriented monitoring, which increases the countervailing power of end-users and strengthens the potentials of citizen-consumers to change the infrastructures of consumption. Several monitoring projects, for example eco-teams and Scorecard, are dealt with in some detail. It is concluded that consumer-oriented monitoring schemes do seem to be of considerable importance.

The economic feasibility of seaweed production in the North Sea

ABSTRACT Seaweeds are increasingly seen as an alternative to land-grown products in food and feed applications. Interest in production of seaweeds in temperate waters is rising, in particular in combination with offshore wind energy generation. This article reports an investigation of the economic feasibility of seaweed production in the North Sea using economic modelling. Often, an overly positive picture of the costs and benefits of seaweed production is sketched. Based on current available information, offshore seaweed production in the North Sea is not economically feasible. Sensitivity analysis shows that revenues would have to increase by roughly 300%, all other things equal, to make a profit. A number of opportunities to improve the economic feasibility of a North Sea seaweed value chain are identified. Technical innovation and the design of systems that enable multiple harvests per year can reduce production costs. Successful marketing of seaweed as human food, and the development of biorefinery concepts can increase the value of the produced seaweed.

The feasibility of offshore aquaculture and its potential for multi-use in the North Sea

Following the Blue Growth ambition of the European Commission, the interest in the potential of offshore is growing. This paper aimed to contribute to the discussion on the feasibility of offshore aquaculture development and its potential for multi-use with other maritime activities. A review of national and international projects forms the basis of the paper, where the Dutch North Sea is used as a case-study area. Analysis of technical, economic and ecological boundaries indicated that the potential of fish culture is limited, that seaweed cultivation is likely to gain potential when challenges related to processing will be overcome and that mussel culture has the highest potential in the near future. The North Sea is an area where many stakeholders claim space, which might set boundaries to the number of sites available for mussel culture. Competing claims are a potential source of conflict but may also lead to mutual benefits when smart combinations are sought, e.g. with wind parks, fisheries and nature conservation; especially, the possibility of combining mussel culture in or around wind parks is worthwhile to be further explored. A spatial distribution model adapted for the Dutch North Sea conditions demonstrated that offshore mussel production in wind farms can be profitable. Yet, the commercial interest for offshore development of mussel culture is still limited. Actions required to stimulate further development of the offshore mussel industry are presented for the government, the private sector, research institutes and civil society organizations.

Mobilizing Investors for Blue Growth

The European Union’s Blue Growth Strategy is a long term strategy to support sustainable growth in the marine and maritime sectors, aiming to contribute to innovation and economic growth (European Commission, 2012). The EU sees the financial sector as a key partner to bring about transition to sustainable consumption and production. However, knowledge about investment behaviour, experience with working with these investors and ways to engage investors in the Blue Growth sectors is lacking. This paper examines this knowledge gap. It characterizes investors and identifies investor behaviour, investors’ motives and conditions and criteria relevant for investors to invest in Blue Growth sectors. The presented results are derived from a literature study on investors and investment behaviour, an electronic survey and in-depth interviews. Stereotypical images of private equity bankers or wealthy individuals do not do justice to the diversity of investors involved in the Blue Growth sectors. These sectors are still in development and various risks reduce the willingness to invest. Risk mitigation should be seen as a shared responsibility of entrepreneurs, investors and governments. Government support must go further than financial support for research and development or technological demonstration projects. Proven technologies get stuck in the Valley of Death as investors alone are not willing to take the risk associated with upscaling of promising technologies. Tied in a reciprocal relationship, governments need to attract private investors – their capital, knowledge and networks – to further grow of the Blue Growth sectors while investors need stable, predictable and effective government support schemes to mitigate their financial risks.

Environmental Impacts of Experimental Production of Lactic Acid for Bioplastics from Ulva Spp.

An exploratory Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out to provide insight into the environmental impacts of using the green seaweed Ulva spp. as a feedstock, for production of bioplastic. The study focused on the production of lactic acid as a precursor of polylactic acid. The study was on the production process: (1) The cultivation of Ulva spp., in an Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture system; (2) the processing of the biomass for solubilization of sugars; (3) the fermentation of the sugars to lactic acid; (4) the isolation of lactic acid from fermentation broth. The study identified environmental hotspots and compared an experimental seaweed production chain with conventional feedstocks. The main hotspot is derived from electricity consumption during seaweed cultivation. The impact of electricity consumption can be lowered by reducing energy use and sourcing renewable energy, and by improving the material efficiency in the product chain. To improve understanding of the process of production’s environmental impacts, future studies should broaden the system boundaries and scope of sustainability issues included in the environmental assessment.