Society needs the right chemistry

Nowadays the worlds aware of carbon problem is growing increasingly. This is also a result of the practice of companies in labelling products to cover information on the carbon emitted during their manufacture, packaging, and transportation. They enable consumers to be more informed about what they buy, so the consumers can choices stuffs based on the carbon footprint that is informed on the label. Carbon offsetting is a good strategy. But actually, paying away the problem over carbon dioxide emissions just does little in changing our actual behavior and will not help much to save the planet from a very serious problem called global warming. However, it rewards those who are working hard to reduce their carbon footprint. Chemical engineers are playing major role in helping industries reduce the amount of carbon emitted and reduce its impact to the environment. There are a number of ways chemical engineer can do to help industries solving carbon emission problem. The first way is carbon capture programs, where carbon dioxide emitted by power stations, oil and gas production plants is stored in geological formations instead of being released into the atmosphere. This program is estimated will help more than 50% of reduced emissions by 2050. Another way is reducing our need in fossil fuels. To reduce our reliance in fossil fuels, there have to be any alternative fuels. Chemical engineers now are trying to develop alternative fuels that is green and can be used by publics. The other way is to develop low carbon technologies and processes for industries. At present, the production of chemicals requires significant amount of energy and many processes rely on high temperature reaction to produce the materials we use every day. In many cases, the manufacturing process adds to the problem as CO2 is produced as a by-product and then being emitted into the atmosphere. Chemical engineers must learn to produce chemicals using technology that require less energy and produce less carbon. However, making such radical changes in industrial operations is not as that easy. It requires considerable investment and support from the chemical industry, backed up by strong political will.