Green Chemistry

My group's roundtable discussion is about Singapore's stand in promoting the adoption of green chemistry technologies which are necessary to achieve a sustainable society.


1) One article related to our topic is “promoting sustainability through green chemistry” by Mary M. Kirchhoff. The article mainly talks about the roles that academia, industry and government can play to promote green chemistry. Academia research provides basic knowledge of green chemistry, and products of research can be made into an industry. Moreover, academia equips students with the knowledge they need to advance green chemistry technologies. Industries implementing green chemistry process can lead to multiple benefits such as safer work environments, lower economic costs and reduced production of waste. Government plays a huge role as new technologies will most likely fail without the support of the government. Other than long term researches, government agencies can also work on sustainable technologies to address immediate concerns. Summing up, there needs to be a coordinated effort between academia, industry and government to maximise the efficiency of resources, effort and minimise the time taken for this new technology to gain a foothold among other pressing issues at hand.


2) Another article relevant to our topic is “Why We Need Green Chemistry” produced through a collaborative effort between several agencies at http://www.healthobservatory.org/. The article mainly talks about the benefits of green chemistry. It starts by saying while chemistry has improved our lives tremendously; there are many synthesis chemicals which are toxic or carcinogenic. These chemicals accumulated to deadly amounts as is travels up food chains and circulate around the globe, and green chemistry is the revolutionary technique of designing safe and environmentally friendly chemicals. They touched on the 12 principles governing green chemistry which basically covers the concepts of designing processes which maximise resource efficiency, using safe, environmental-benign substances whenever possible, designing energy efficient processes and minimising the waste products created through chemical reactions. Some benefits green chemistry brings are as such; less wastes, safer products, healthier workplace and communities, protection of human and environmental health, lower economic costs, fewer accidents and also maintaining a competitive advantage.

APA citations:

• Anastas, P. T., and J. C. Warner (1998) Green Chemistry:
Theory and Practice Eds. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK.
• Canadian Green Chemistry Network,
http://www.greenchemistry.ca/index.htm
• Carnegie Mellon Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry,
http://www.chem.cmu.edu/groups/Collins/
• Green Chemistry and the Consumer Network,
http://www.chemsoc.org/networks/gcn/industry.htm#consumer
• Green Chemistry Institute
• http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC
=greenchemistryinstitute%5Cindex.html
• University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Green
Chemistry http://www.greenchemistry.uml.edu/
• University of Scranton Greening Across the Chemistry
Curriculum, http://academic.scranton.edu/faculty/CANNM1/
dreyfusmodules.html
• US EPA, Green Chemistry, http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/
index.html
• Worldwide Universities Network’s Green Chemistry Partnership,
http://www.wun.ac.uk/greenchem/index.htm


Evaluation:

Article 1 emphasises on the methods to implement green chemistry. This gives great insight on the issue as most articles are like Article 2, where they just focus on the benefits of green chemistry, but the main obstacle is actually convincing nations to undertake this venture. They are reliable as well for they come from reputable sources and their citations are legitimate. Reading these articles have convinced me for the need for green chemistry and Singapore should undergo this venture for the obvious potential benefits that it brings.


Definitions:

Green Chemistry: a chemical philosophy encouraging the design of products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances

Atom Economy: describes the conversion efficiency of a chemical process in terms of all atoms involved

Academia: the milieu or interests of a university, college, or academy

Catalyst: a reagent in a chemical process which speeds of slows down the process and is not consumed why the process.