Green Chemistry Principle 6 |

Energy Efficiency
Design for Energy Efficiency is the full name for Principle
6.

This Principle states that energy requirements should be recognized for their environmental
and economic impacts and should be minimized. Synthetic methods should be conducted at
ambient temperature and pressure.

Dr David Constable, Director, ACS Green Chemistry Institute describes principle 6 as one of
the “forgotten principles”. Chemists he says try to get a reaction to completion and to
separate the desired product at as high a yield as possible. Energy efficiency is not a core
concern of the chemist. In fact it’s often irrelevant and it’s free. The chemist puts the plug
into the wall or gets the liquid nitrogen out of the dewar.

A dewar is a vacuum or thermos flask

I confess I had to look up the meaning of dewar. It’s used domestically of course and also
industrially. It keeps your soup or coffee hot and your liquid nitrogen cold. It was invented
by Sir James Dewar in 1892. Dewar didn’t ever patent the invention but German men who
discovered the commercial use for it renamed it thermos.

Most chemists mainly think about energy in terms of the reactions it creates. They do not
think of where it comes from or the need to minimise its use. And they almost never think of
its cost.

The 6th principle asks that thought is given to the issue of energy efficiency which is a key
issue for the 21st century. Most energy is based on fossil fuels which actually deliver a very
small amount of energy to the end use. Much is lost in transport and transmission. Chemists
could help to change this. To do so they need to minimise as far as possible the steps taken
to achieve the desired result, and to use lower cost materials. Trying to run reactions as far
as possible at ambient temperatures and pressure is also a way to be green and have impact
less on the planet.

Halo loves to be green, to think about the resources it uses, including energy. For more
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The Green Chemistry Initiative Blog
FEBRUARY 18, 2016 BY GREENCHEMUOFT

Green Chemistry Principle #6:

Design for Energy Efficiency
By Trevor Janes, Member-at-Large for the GCI
6. Energy requirements of chemical processes should be recognized for their environmental and economic
impacts and should be minimized. If possible, synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient
temperature and pressure.
In chemistry (and in life) we need energy to do work. Every task we do in the lab requires energy: whether
we’re using a Bunsen burner or weighing out a reagent or dissolving our favourite compound, in all cases
we’re using energy in some form.

In the lab, we often need to change the pressure and temperature of experiments, and this uses a large
amount of energy. Ideally, we would perform all reactions at ‘ambient’ conditions – room temperature and
atmospheric pressure – in order to minimize energy usage.

In Video #6, Julia and David use an energy monitor to see help us see just how much energy is used by
everyday lab equipment. They measure a vacuum pump, which is used to reduce pressure, and a hot plate,
used to raise the temperature of a reaction.

Julia and David measure the power used by each instrument and calculate the monthly energy bill,
comparing the cost and amount of energy to a regular household item like a TV.[1] By doing this they
determine the financial impact of the energy requirements of lab equipment. A hot plate uses roughly as
much energy as a TV, and a vacuum pump uses more energy than 3 TVs! Just like at home, minimizing
the use of equipment in a lab, and turning off equipment when it’s not in use, will conserve energy and
save money.
In an academic lab, the amount of energy and its associated cost is modest and may seem
insignificant. But on the much larger industrial scale, energy/money savings are multiplied and
energy efficiency becomes even more important.
We know that heating a reaction requires energy, but another energy-intensive aspect of lab work that
occurs after completion of the reaction is the work-up. “Working up” the reaction means separating our
desired product from the other components in the reaction mixture such as solvent and byproducts. We
talked about this before in our post for Principle #5.
To remove solvent conveniently we use a rotary evaporator, commonly referred to as a “rotovap,” which
involves the combined use of a heat source, vacuum pump, rotating motor, and chiller. The heat, vacuum,
and rotation vaporize the solvent and the chiller condenses the solvent vapors into a flask for removal. If
you’re curious, we also measured the energy used by the chiller component of the rotovap assembly (see
calculations below). If left on all the time, the monthly energy bill for the chiller alone would be $15.60 –
the same as 2 TVs – and that’s not including the other rotovap components. If we can develop chemical
reactions that avoid solvent removal and/or simplify work-up, we can save energy and money.
 Our “Shut It” campaign encourages fume hood sashes to stay closed.

Later in the video, we were delighted to host special guest Allison Paradise, Executive Director of My
Green Lab who joined us to highlight the importance of minimizing the energy used by chemical fume
hoods. As the My Green Lab website explains, there are Constant Air Volume (CAV) and Variable Air
Volume (VAV) ventilation systems.[2] In VAV systems, closing the fume hood sash allows the exhaust fan
to run more slowly while maintaining a safe flow rate. By closing our sashes in VAV systems we can
reduce energy use by 40% or more!
Turning off your TV after you’re finished watching it illustrates the idea behind Principle #6. Just like you
care for the environment and save money by being energy efficient at home, we want to minimize the
environmental and economic impacts of the chemical processes we do in the lab.

Energy Calculations:
Julia and David measured the vacuum pump to draw 360 W. If we kept it on for one month, this would be
259 kWh. In Toronto, the consumption-based cost of electricity is $0.108/kWh,[1]which makes the cost for
one month of vacuum pump use $28.
360 W x (1 kW/1000 W) x (720 h/1 month) = 259 kWh/month

259 kWh x $0.108/kWh = $28

The hot plate heating an oil bath to 110 °C uses 100 W, which amounts to 72 kWh in one month. Using the
electricity cost of $0.108/kWh again, the monthly bill for keeping the hot plate on at all times would be
$7.80.

100 W x (1 kW/1000W) x (720 h/1 month) = 72 kWh/month

72 kWh x $0.108/kWh = $7.80

Not included in the video is the measurement of a rotovap chiller. This chiller circulates coolant that it
maintains at -5 °C, which requires 200 W. This is double the power drawn by the hot plate and represents a
monthly energy bill of $15.60.

References:
[1]
Cost of electricity and household appliance energy usage, Toronto
Hydro: http://www.torontohydro.com/sites/electricsystem/residential/yourbilloverview/Pages/ApplianceCh
art.aspx
[2]
My Green Lab’s explanation of fume hood types and their energy
consumption: http://www.mygreenlab.org/be-good-in-the-hood.html