Green Chemistry - Usa

Green chemistry is defined as the reduction of the usage of chemical products for a better future The economic prosperity of the United States demands that it continue to

have a robust chemical industry. In this age of environmental consciousness, however, we can no longer afford to allow the type of industry that has

been characteristic of past practices to continue operating as it always has.

There is a real need to develop an environmentally benign, or "green," technology. Chemists must not only create new products but also design the

chemical syntheses in such a way that their environmental ramifications are

considered carefully.

Beginning with the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, scientists and the

general public began to understand that the earth is a closed system in

which the consumption of resources and the indiscriminate disposal of

waste materials are certain to bring about profound and long-lasting effects

on the worldwide environment. Over the past decade, interest has begun to

grow in an initiative known as green chemistry.

Green chemistry may be defined as the invention, design, and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use

and generation of hazardous substances. Practitioners of green chemistry strive to protect the environment by cleaning up toxic waste sites and by

inventing new chemical methods that do not pollute and that minimize the

consumption of energy and natural resources. Guidelines for developing

green chemistry technologies are summarized in the "Twelve Principles of

Green Chemistry," shown in the table.

The green chemistry program was begun shortly after the passage of the

Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 and is the central focus of the Environmental Protection Agency's Design for the Environment Program. As a

stimulus for research in the area of reducing the impact of chemical industry on the environment, the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award

was begun in 1995. The theme of the Green Chemistry Challenge is "Chemistry is not the problem; it's the solution." Since 1995, award winners have

been responsible for the elimination of more than 460 million pounds of

hazardous