Findings New study supports previous claims that soy ink helps minimize environmental burdens associated with printing. Soybean agriculture uses only 0.5 percent of the total energy needed to produce soy ink.
Soybeans temporarily remove damaging carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere.
The majority of air emissions released during soy ink's life cycle result from fossil fuel combustion. Extraction and processing of raw materials for othe printing ink ingredients share the burden for release of these emissions. Nine states use irrigation for soybean farming, but only two of them have such a limited supply of surface water and groundwater that irrigation use is a concern.