Ideals of Green Chemistry

It is important to note that these green chemistry goals are most efTectively dealt with and are easier to apply if they are considered at the design stage rather than retrospectively - green chemistry is not an end-of-pipe solution. 

It is important to be able to quantify the change when changes are made to chemical processes. This enables us to quantify the benefit from the new technology 

Numerous metrics have been formulated over time and their suitability discussed at great length [8-12]. The problem observed is that the more accurate and universally applicable the metric devised, the more complex and unemployable it becomes. A good metric must be clearly defined, simple, measurable, objective rather than subjective, and must ultimately drive the desired behavior. Some of the most popular metrics are 

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One important aspect of green chemistry, which is often forgotten, is cost. If industry is to take up these wonderful ideals of green chemistry it will only do so if it makes economic sense. However if we have reduced waste, materials, energy etc. then it is also very likely that the cost has also been reduced (Figure 1). 

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