Denny Hjeresen of Los Alamos' Environmental Science and Waste Technology Division, acting director for the Green Chemistry Institute, will discuss some of those initiatives March 26 during the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco.
Green chemistry is "the invention, design and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances." The GCI is a nonprofit organization comprising academic, private and government institutions that promotes and fosters green chemistry through information dissemination, conferences and symposia, and chemical research and education. Los Alamos manages the GCI for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Los Alamos has been involved in green chemistry efforts for several years, and already has made inroads in the nuclear, dry cleaning, food, communications, automobile and other industries. Los Alamos has current partnerships with Motorola, the Big Three automakers (under DOE's Partnership for the Next Generation of Vehicles Program) and many other private and public entities in green chemistry projects.
Most recently, Los Alamos and Motorola announced a research partnership to develop a fuel cell for cellular phones that lasts the lifetime of the phone and runs on methanol.
"The GCI's recent thrusts complement the initiatives already in place," explained Hjeresen. Current green chemistry initiatives include research fellowships, electronic mail distribution networks that link more than 300 researchers and private companies, and Web sites that promote information sharing and collaboration.
One GCI initiative Hjeresen will discuss at the conference is a recently concluded series of five educational conferences involving industry, government agencies and the research community. "The conferences culminated in a roadmap that DOE used to strategically direct $12.1 million for new research in support of its Technology Vision 20/20 Program," said Hjeresen.
Another initiative involves sponsoring up to 40 young scientists from developing countries to attend a two-week training course in green chemistry curricula and practices, scheduled for June 2001. The overall objective, said Hjeresen, is to develop a cross-cultural network of scientists and educators to further disseminate green chemistry principles.
In addition, The GCI, ACS and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, of which Los Alamos also is a member, are sponsoring the four-day Chemical Research Applied to World Needs Conference in July 2001.
Still another initiative involves the establishment of several international chapters to further disseminate educational resources in green chemistry. "The GCI currently has chapters in Australia, Italy, South Africa, Italy, Estonia, Spain and Taiwan," said Hjeresen. The United Kingdom, China and New Zealand may open GCI chapters this year, he added.
"We're building a community among industry, academia and government that incorporates green chemistry practices not only into existing programs, but future ones as well," Hjeresen said.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.