Green Technologies

Green Technology deals with using science and technology to protect the environment as well as curb the negative impacts of human involvement. The emerging green technologies, covered in this book, will propel our economy in the near future. Their development will lead to global and sustainable powers that will impact our economics, societies, cultures, and the way of life. This book provides researchers, students, and professionals a comprehensive introduction, applications, benefits, and challenges of 15 emerging green technologies. It presents the impact of these cutting-edge technologies on our global economy and its future. The book will help a beginner to have an introductory knowledge about these emerging technologies. The main objective of the author is to provide a concise treatment that is easily digestible. It is a must-read for those graduate students or scholars who consider researching green technologies. It can also serve as a valuable resource for those business professionals who seek ways to green their processes.

In the last fifty years, the Earth has experienced rapid changes in climate, increasingly severe droughts, rising seawater levels, seawater acidification, increased depletion of groundwater reserves, and global rise of temperature. Green technologies for recycling waste, particularly electronic waste, which is increasing at an alarming rate, may be a potential solution to environmental pollution. Divided into three sections, this book presents comprehensive information on green technologies. Section 1 presents innovations in green electronic technologies, Section 2 discusses recycling and waste management, and Section 3 discusses innovation and economics in global green technologies.

Green technology plays an important role in the achievement of environmental sustainability. Tax incentives, carbon taxes, and rising fossil fuel costs are motivating increased growth and development of 'green' products and services, many of which are the result of innovative discoveries in biotechnology and nanotechnology. Green Technologies and Business Practices: An IT Approach is an international platform that brings together academics, researchers, lecturers, policy makers, practitioners, and persons in decision-making positions from all backgrounds who ultimately share new theories, research findings and case studies, together enhancing understanding and collaboration of green issues in business and the role of information technologies and also analyze recent developments in theory and practice. Furthermore, this book demonstrates the capacity of green models and policies, information technology and management for the mutual understanding, prosperity and overall well-being of all the citizens in the world. This title is perfect for politicians, professors, policy makers, government officers, and students alike.

In the present scenario, green technologies are playing significant role in changing the course of nation’s economic growth towards sustainability and providing an alternative socio-economic model that will enable present and future generations to live in a clean and healthy environment, in harmony with nature. Green technology, which is also known as clean technology, refers to the development and extension of processes, practices, and applications that improve or replace the existing technologies facilitating society to meet their own needs while substantially decreasing the impact of human on the planet, and reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. The concepts of Green Technologies, if endorsed and pervaded into the lives of all societies, will facilitate the aim of the Millennium Development Goals of keeping the environment intact and improve it for the civilization to survive. Green Technologies and Environmental Sustainability is focused on the goals of green technologies which are becoming increasingly important for ensuring sustainability. This book provides different perspectives of green technology in sectors like energy, agriculture, waste management and economics and contains recent advancements made towards sustainable development in the field of bioenergy, nanotechnology, green chemistry, bioremediation, degraded land reclamation. This book is written for a large and broad readership, including researchers, scientists, academicians and readers from diverse backgrounds across various fields such as nanotechnology, chemistry, agriculture, environmental science, water engineering, waste management and energy. It could also serve as a reference book for graduates and post-graduate students, faculties, environmentalist and industrial personnel who are working in the area of green technologies.

This book will review the current status of the agriculture and agri-food sector in regard to green processing and provide strategies that can be used by the sector to enhance the use of environmentally-friendly technologies for production, processing. The book will look at the full spectrum from farm to fork beginning with chapters on life cycle analysis and environmental impact assessment of different agri-food sectors. This will be followed by reviews of current and novel on-farm practices that are more environmentally-friendly, technologies for food processing that reduce chemical and energy use and emissions as well as novel analytical techniques for R&D and QA which reduce solvent, chemical and energy consumption. Technologies for waste treatment, "reducing, reusing, recycling", and better water and energy stewardship will be reviewed. In addition, the last section of the book will attempt to look at technologies and processes that reduce the generation of process-induced toxins (e.g., trans fats, acrylamide, D-amino acids) and will address consumer perceptions about current and emerging technologies available to tackle these processing and environmental issues.

Green Technology for Bioremediation of Environmental Pollution has significant importance in its fields, since it comprises the current information of basic concepts and various advanced research aspects of bioremediation related green technologies for controlling environmental pollution. In order to combat the severe environmental problems, a comprehensive treatise on bioremediation dealing with updated relevant novel green technologies is, thus, in great demand for application in a practical field. Keeping this in mind, the idea of the present book has been conceived by the editors. This issue focuses particularly on the recently developed environmental friendly novel green technology that detoxifies and decontaminates the pollutants in different domains of the environment using the potential biological agents. The book covered the following topics: A modern applied concept of the green bioremediation process, genomics, metagenomics and proteomics in green bioremediation, advanced biochemical and molecular approaches of pollutant detoxification, ecological engineering in bioremediation, microbial remediation, bioleaching, various phytoremediation approaches, novel remediation technologies of various hazardous pollutants, etc. The salient features of this book include: (i) Peer revision of each chapter by expert scientists; (ii) the basic applied concepts of bioremediation; (iii) in-depth updated concepts and research findings; (iv) relevant graphical and pictorial illustrations for understanding the text; (v) bioremediation of several emerging and hazardous pollutants; and (vi) a vivid description of bioremediation characteristics of various biological agents. Therefore, the book will be of considerable use to the environmental engineers, researchers, scientists, professionals, teachers and students working in the fields of environmental science, pollution bioremediation, environmental engineering, environmental management, environmental microbiology, environmental biotechnology and biochemistry, life sciences, proteomics, genomics and metagenomics, toxicity, waste treatment industries, etc.

Our Earth is considered as a natural system which organizes and controls itself. However, the present scale of anthropogenic activity is unprecedented in the history of mankind compelling the intelligentia to ponder over the scientific causes of the problems, processes and sustainable and pragmatic solutions. The current rate of resource use and consumption pattern are depleting the planet’s finite resources and damaging life-supporting ecosystems. A large number of toxic substances are increasingly found in air, water, soil, and flora and fauna. We are in the midst of a period of increasing interconnected and complex global challenges that seek action across temporal and spatial scales, diverse sectors, and concerted efforts from global citizens. The environment on account of human’s action has been experiencing imbalances and ecological catastrophe. Environmental issues like global climate change, biodiversity loss, the rapid depletion of natural resources, degradation of global commons, stratospheric ozone depletion have been restricting the safe operating space and transgressing the planetary boundaries endangering the existence of human societies. The global environmental problems if not scientifically managed may end up in the civilizational collapse. Nevertheless, the underlying commonality among these environmental issues is interrelatedness, complexity, and difficulty in identifying and implementing solutions. The global environmental challenges can be managed by adopting sustainable green technologies which dovetails the principles of environmental sustainability with social and ecological sustainability. Green growth is construed as a new development paradigm that sustains economic growth while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability.

The 28 chapters in this collection describe science-based principles and technological advances behind green technologies that can be effective solutions to pressing problems in sustainable water management.