Green Materials and Environmental Chemistry

Book excerpt: The world faces significant challenges as the population and consumption continue to grow while nonrenewable fossil fuels and other raw materials are depleted at ever-increasing rates. Moreover, environmental consciousness and a penchant for thinking in terms of material cycles have caught on with consumers: the use of environmentally compatible materials and production methods is desired. This volume, Green Materials and Environmental Chemistry: New Production Technologies, Unique Properties, and Applications takes a technical approach to address these issues using green design and analysis. This book provides an overview of the latest developments in environmental chemistry and sustainable materials written by experts in their respective research areas. This interdisciplinary volume offers research with the aim to minimize environmental impacts across all lifecycle phases in the design and engineering of products, processes, and systems as just one possible approach to addressing the larger issue of sustainability that includes environmental, economic, and social aspects.