ACS Green Chemistry Institute to host green chemistry conference in Washington, D.C., June 21-23

May 11th, 2010

The American Chemical Society's (ACS) Green Chemistry Institute will host the 14th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference from June 21-23 in Washington, D.C. The annual conference, which regularly attracts scientific leaders from around the world, will be held at the Capital Hilton Hotel, just two blocks north of the White House.

With an overarching theme of "Innovation and Application," this year's conference will celebrate recent innovations and applications at the cutting edge of green chemistry. The conference also will address environmental challenges and explore sustainable solutions of today for future generations, which will heighten the efforts of D.C. city officials.

The program includes more than 15 technical sessions, including bio-fuels, education, energy, entrepreneurship, environmental health sciences, pharmaceuticals, and sustainable design. "Whether interested in a wide variety of topics or focused on a specific area of green chemistry and engineering, we are confident you will find plenty to capture your imagination and curiosity," said John Warner, this year's Conference Chair and President and CTO of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, in Wilmington, Mass.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will inaugurate the conference by recognizing the winners of the 2010 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. Winners are awarded for their outstanding chemical technology efforts, which incorporated principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use. Collectively, past award winners have introduced technologies that have eliminated more than 460 million pounds of hazardous chemicals and solvents, saved more than 440 million gallons of water, and eliminated more than170 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

Highlights will include keynote speeches by 2005 Chemistry Nobel laureate Robert Grubbs, Ph.D.; renowned environmentalist, author and entrepreneur Paul Hawken; U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney (D-MA); and Senior Vice President of Research and Technology Commercialization at 3M, Steven Webster.

"We are honored to have such very prominent leaders in the advancement of sustainability to be keynote speakers of the 14th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference," said Robert Peoples, Ph.D., Director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute® (ACS GCI), which organizes the conference.

On the second day of the conference, Tuesday, June 22, Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award recipients and invited EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will be introduced to speak by presidential appointee EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Technology Paul Anastas, Ph.D.

Several factors led to the committee's decision to return to the District of Columbia (D.C.), a city which is committed to becoming one of the world's most sustainable cities. This year earmarked the beginning of initiatives outlined in the Green D.C. Agenda. The "Skip the Bag, Save the River" law requires businesses to charge five cents for each disposable paper or plastic bag. Approximately 80 percent of revenue earned will financially support the Anacostia River Protection Fund, which provides clean-up efforts to reduce the amount of trash disposal in the river and advocate recycling to the D.C. public. SmartBike D.C., provided by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) in partnership with Clear Channel, is the first-of-its-kind, self-service bicycle rental system, which will expand tenfold in 2010.

"The District of Columbia is critical to our nation's environment -- not just in its role as the nation's capital, but also in its role as a city. My administration is committed to enhancing green programs and services," Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said on the Green D.C. Agenda Web site.

Provided by American Chemical Society