Summary on Green Chemistry
My round table discussion is should my home country (Singapore) adopt Kirchhoff’s claim that “a collative effort industry, academia and government will promote the adoption of green chemistry technologies that are necessary to achieve a sustainable society.
In the first article “'Green chemist' shows the way for Singapore”, its author Shobana Kesava gives examples of the benefits of green chemistry. Mainly more efficient manufacturing and better waste conversion are some benefits of green chemistry. The use of green chemistry can also bring about profits and they are renewable and safe. In his article he stated that” Dr Keith Carpenter, executive director of Singapore's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, felt that although Singapore is a newcomer to research and development in this field, it has a key role to play.” This shows that green chemistry has potential to be successful in Singapore. Another example was the use of bio-degradable lightweight trays which are safe and will protect both the people and the planet.
Green chemistry can bring about huge economic benefits to the country. Singapore’s collaboration with Japan will only enhance the possibility of making green chemistry a reality in Singapore. Government is putting money into research as A Star is currently involved in this. For the industries such as petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, the author stated that these industries are widely using green chemistry. Therefore industries in Singapore can know that green chemistry is tried and proven in those areas and should also implement them. However the author did not mention anything about academia on green chemistry but he did mention about a joint workshop by A star-Riken and NTU on another issue. The issue of green chemistry should also have workshops at the universities to expose the students to this issue and its benefits.
The author Mark Pratt stated that Terry Collins is hoping science will help to overcome all the pollutants that the Earth has been receiving. Terry Collins also stated that green chemistry will help to implement products that are safe to the environment. In both Yale and Cambridge, have both started offering courses in green chemistry while others like Carnegie Mellon and University of Oregon have been offering this course for years. Most of us have been brought up without considering how to “save the environment”. We can see more courses are being related to green chemistry as it is also a moral issue.
By having more students in green chemistry, the industries will also have better trained personal and may be more willing to explore the issue. Academia plays a key role to enabling the industries to take this step to make the change to green chemistry. We can see this from “Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. is developing new ways of making drugs that eliminate millions of pounds of waste, and S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.'s has reformulated some consumer cleaning products. “ In Singapore, this issue should be more exposed and focussed on only then will the industries benefit.
From both articles we can see that if academia, industries and the government all work together, green chemistry can be a success in Singapore.
Kesava , S. (19th May 2007). 'Green chemist' shows the way for Singapore. Retrieved on Feb 28th 2009 from http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070506/070519-2.htm
Pratt, M. (9th Oct 2007) Green chemistry joins college curriculum. Retrieved on Feb 28th 2009 from http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070910/071009-7.htm
In the first article “'Green chemist' shows the way for Singapore”, its author Shobana Kesava gives examples of the benefits of green chemistry. Mainly more efficient manufacturing and better waste conversion are some benefits of green chemistry. The use of green chemistry can also bring about profits and they are renewable and safe. In his article he stated that” Dr Keith Carpenter, executive director of Singapore's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, felt that although Singapore is a newcomer to research and development in this field, it has a key role to play.” This shows that green chemistry has potential to be successful in Singapore. Another example was the use of bio-degradable lightweight trays which are safe and will protect both the people and the planet.
Green chemistry can bring about huge economic benefits to the country. Singapore’s collaboration with Japan will only enhance the possibility of making green chemistry a reality in Singapore. Government is putting money into research as A Star is currently involved in this. For the industries such as petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, the author stated that these industries are widely using green chemistry. Therefore industries in Singapore can know that green chemistry is tried and proven in those areas and should also implement them. However the author did not mention anything about academia on green chemistry but he did mention about a joint workshop by A star-Riken and NTU on another issue. The issue of green chemistry should also have workshops at the universities to expose the students to this issue and its benefits.
The author Mark Pratt stated that Terry Collins is hoping science will help to overcome all the pollutants that the Earth has been receiving. Terry Collins also stated that green chemistry will help to implement products that are safe to the environment. In both Yale and Cambridge, have both started offering courses in green chemistry while others like Carnegie Mellon and University of Oregon have been offering this course for years. Most of us have been brought up without considering how to “save the environment”. We can see more courses are being related to green chemistry as it is also a moral issue.
By having more students in green chemistry, the industries will also have better trained personal and may be more willing to explore the issue. Academia plays a key role to enabling the industries to take this step to make the change to green chemistry. We can see this from “Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. is developing new ways of making drugs that eliminate millions of pounds of waste, and S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.'s has reformulated some consumer cleaning products. “ In Singapore, this issue should be more exposed and focussed on only then will the industries benefit.
From both articles we can see that if academia, industries and the government all work together, green chemistry can be a success in Singapore.
Kesava , S. (19th May 2007). 'Green chemist' shows the way for Singapore. Retrieved on Feb 28th 2009 from http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070506/070519-2.htm
Pratt, M. (9th Oct 2007) Green chemistry joins college curriculum. Retrieved on Feb 28th 2009 from http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070910/071009-7.htm
posted by Samuel @ 8:36 PM
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