PSU now has a Green Labs Guide...
In order to access the guide, please select the Green Labs Guide
What is Green Chemistry?
Sustainable and green chemistry in very simple terms is just a different way of thinking about how chemistry and chemical engineering can be done. Green chemistry principles enable scientists and engineers to protect and benefit the economy, people and the planet by finding creative and innovative ways to reduce waste, conserve energy, and discover replacements for hazardous substances.
Another thing to note is that the scope of green chemistry goes beyond concerns over hazards from chemical toxicity and include energy conservation, waste reduction, and life cycle considerations such as the use of more sustainable or renewable feedstocks and designing for end of life or the final disposition of the product.
Green chemistry can also be defined through the use of metrics. While a unified set of metrics has not been established, many ways to quantify greener processes and products have been proposed. These metrics include ones for mass, energy, hazardous substance reduction or elimination, and life cycle environmental impacts.
Furthermore, the Environmental Health & Safety department at PSU encourages the use of green chemistry. Thoughtful and well designed experiments using environmentally benign chemicals have the following benefits: hazard reduction, risk reduction, waste minimization, reducing environmental impact, reducing carbon footprint and reducing regulatory risk.
Green Chemistry Links and Resources
12 Principles of Green Chemistry
Developed by Paul Anastas and John Warner, it is a list that outlines an early conception of what would make a greener chemical, process, or product. The list includes prevention, atom economy, less hazardous chemical synthesis, designing safer chemicals, safer solvents and auxiliaries, design of energy efficiency, use of renewable feedstocks, reduce derivatives, catalysis, design for degredation, real-time analysis for pollution prevention and inherently safer chemistry for accident prevention.
Green Chemical Alternatives Wizard
The Green Chemical Alternatives Wizard (developed by MIT) is intended as a tool to reduce the hazardous waste profile in research labs, an effort that ultimately saves the university, and its researchers, money while reducing hazard potentials and the burden to our environment.
GSK Safer Solvents Selection Guide
The GSK solvent selection guide enables scientists to objectively assess solvents and
determine whether existing or new solvents brought to market as ‘greener’ alternatives truly
represent a more sustainable choice or whether they are just addressing a single issue associated
with sustainability.
Toxic Use Reduction Institute (TURI)
The TURI guide is a valuable tool for decision making on chemical selection. This guide provides information and links relating to a chemical's health, safety, environmental impacts, regulatory info, sustainability and more. For help with using this guide, reference the webinar.