You will see the concept of “Green Chemistry” pop up on “Heroes…” again and again because green chemistry innovations are fundamental to success in so many other areas of sustainability (e.g. renewable energy, green building design, circular economy… ).
Simply put, green chemistry involves experts looking for ways to make things cleaner, safer and more effective by redesigning them at their most basic level… the molecular level.
When you can improve things at this most fundamental level, the benefits ripple out far and wide.
Since the 1990s, researchers have used green chemistry to give us safer paints, compostable plastics, far more clean and efficient pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, and countless other advancements that benefit our daily lives.
Looking forward, green chemists will deliver (to name just a few) new battery technologies, refrigerants that have a much lower climate change impact, and renewable raw material advancements that will help every single industrial sector reduce its massive reliance on petrochemicals.
Green chemistry is not a silver bullet. But green chemistry designs have the potential to yield sweeping change. Because of this, and because green chemistry advancements are just downright fascinating, we will continue to post on this topic.