#Ford is committed to reducing our planetary impact. Watch how we’re testing making vehicle plastics from CO2.https://t.co/YkInvj7j6T
— Ford Drive Green (@FordDriveGreen) May 17, 2016
Ford has been driving innovation by stealing ideas straight from Mother Nature's notebook. One ongoing project is to develop an adhesive based on gecko feet. Now, Ford is looking at flora for inspiration.
One really cool thing trees do is draw carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air, and use that carbon as building blocks to grow. Epiphytes -- plants that grow on other plants -- do this even better than trees, because they have no roots in the soil and must gather all the nutrients they need from the air.
We know that manufacturing facilities around the world release millions of pounds of CO2 into the air daily. What if we could use that carbon as building materials instead, like epiphytic plants?
Ford is the first automaker to do just that, collaborating with the company Novomer, which does most of the heavy-lifting in terms of devising the chemical process of converting CO2 into polymers, based on the Calvin Cycle used by plants.
"Novomer is excited by the pioneering work Ford has completed with our Converge® CO2-based polyols," said Peter Shepard, Novomer chief business officer. "It takes bold, innovative companies such as Ford to enable new technologies to become mainstream products."
Within five years, we should start to see plant-inspired materials appear in new Ford vehicles in Fredericksburg. The carbon-capturing process will reduce petroleum use by over 600 million pounds annually, so you can drive greener with Purvis Ford Lincoln Inc.