Welcome to 310 Environmental Working Group! A Group Project That Places Students in the Role of Consultants Helping Businesses Choose the Most Climate Friendly Fluorinated Gas

The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty that
controls
substances that deplete the ozone layer. Through the control of halogenated
gases, it has been one of the most successful climate legislations
to date. This success is driven by the interplay between chemical
regulation and smart chemical design, demonstrating the positive impact
chemistry can have on the world. This Article describes a group project
that includes four assignments, a group presentation, and a writing
task where students take on the role of consultants to assess the
environmental friendliness of two fluorinated gases. Through the assignments
students determine the global warming potential of two chemicals and
pair this assessment with an evaluation of their potential to produce
persistent products, such as trifluoroacetic acid, via atmospheric
oxidation. Students worked together to take these, sometimes conflicting,
pieces of evidence to make a final recommendation to their client
as to the most “environmentally friendly” option in
a mock Board of Directors meeting and then individually through a
written recommendation. The project effectively addressed the learning
goals of a third-year environmental chemistry class and was well received
by students as a means of contextualizing the course material and
providing students with a clear peer network in the class. This project
is an effective application of fundamental chemistry topics (e.g.,
spectroscopy and the relationship between structure and reactivity)
within a real-world context that emphasizes the ability of chemistry
to have a positive impact on important environmental issues such as
climate.