industry. One of the most interesting developments in EIP development is the creation of parks organized around the industrial use of plant materials, usually agricultural waste products or by-products. An EIP in St. Peter Minnesota (a rural community of about 10,000 people) is transforming a 160-acre grass-strip airport runway into a high-performance industrial park focused on making the most of the agricultural resource base in the area (Osdoba, 2002). Organizers want to direct more local food production to the food needs of local people, and also to diversify into production of biodiesel fuels, biochemicals and even bioplastics. A similar and more mature EIP is the Intervale Food Centre in Burlington Vermont, which is less concerned with biochemical production than a range of other food-related forms of production, including biomass gasification, aquaculture and living machine waste water treatment (Bamburg, 2002). Even more ambitious EIPs geared to bio-material development, called bio-refineries, are being initiated by the Geneva-based Zero Emissions Research Institute (ZERI) which I will discuss later. Building materials are a strategic area for incremental substitution of bio-based materials for petrochemicals, and their production in EIPs would be a major contribution to green economic development.