Financial overview local and global, what does it mean?
By Michael Burke – Director of Strategy at Beyond Advisors.
What Is Driving & Effecting Our Composites Market?
Well perhaps it’s the time in history where we can say it’s the plastics period. We have had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial revolution, the steel period and now composites come to play and why?
It’s simple: we need energy to do things, and where energy weight, shape, functionality are all required. Composites allows us freedom of design, rapid build methods and light weight components. Now more than ever we are aware of our environment, the impact of fossil fuels and our environmental footprint. Composites is moving faster than I have seen in any other form of materials, in to being able to reduce our green house gasses, be recycled or made from recycled product, have less embodied energy to be recycled and brings greater efficiencies.
But in all of this is the demand. The demand moves fastest than our major plants can meet the supply needs.
It’s true I learned that the wind market will container in a high level of demand as we need more electricity and with a more lower greenhouse output. Europe needs power more than ever now that it’s cutting itself off from Russian gas supply. This won’t happen overnight, but wind power demand will keep at a high level. Wind blades have been part of the reason we have seen shortages in supply of glass, fibre, core materials and resins.
Automotive industries are moving more to carbon fibre-built chassis to save weight and to offset heavy electric batteries. These are just a few of the areas that have great demand for composites. If you then consider civil projects and cement as the world’s number one emitter of CO2, it’s now clear composites move into these areas as well.
Sometimes it’s hard to be so far away from the rest of the world. You are so focused on your business that you may never know what is the true effects to your daily life. But for us somewhere far away, there are other forces affecting everything you do you.
Michael Burke – Beyond Advisors
