Lankey, Rebecca L., Paul t. Anastas. GREEN CHEMISTRY AND LIFE CYCLE INNOVATION
Washington, DC 20460 (lankey@bellatlantic.net)
"Sustainability" is often used to describe environmental or economic viability. Interdisciplinary fields such as industrial ecology have developed concepts and tools to measure and improve environmental and economic sustainability, while still satisfying consumer needs. One such tool is life cycle assessment, which tracks resource consumption and emissions over the life of a product or process to describe its environmental impacts. An important way to achieve life cycle innovation is by implementing green chemistry. Chemistry is fundamental to science and engineering, and technical research advances are essential to providing tangible progress towards sustainability. Successful implementations of green chemistry research are improving the environmental impacts of chemical products and processes in every stage of life while also offering economic incentives. This talk describes practical advances in green chemistry within the context of life cycle assessment and industrial ecology.