Summaryof roundtable discussions (e-porfolio 5)

There was a round table discussions on the 9th of March; it was happened during the tutorial. On that day, four groups presented their views on different topics. The first group touched on Bio-fuel or biomass productions, the second group focused on Green Chemistry, the third group discussed on Microchip implantation inside the human body, last but not least, the fourth group was on carbon filter technology. Everyone had their own point of views and it was a quite interesting day. Overall every one of us believes that it is good to have a roundtable discussion, so that we can share our opinions among friends. The following three paragraphs will be focused on second, third and fourth groups roundtable discussions.

“Green Chemistry” was the selected topic for the second group. People from supporting side managed to show their supporting views and gave reasons why they accept the idea of green chemistry. Global warming and green house gaseous emissions are becoming hot issue among nations. A set of technology called green chemistry will help to reduce the emission of green house gaseous. What I had learned from that roundtable discussion was that green chemistry is based on a number of principles that ensure that both processes and end products are clean and safe. It is also known as both the chemistry of the future and the chemistry of today. The major advantage is that ‘green’ processes are often cheaper than conventional methods. Indeed the basic ideas of green chemistry are to prevent production of hazardous and polluting materials. On the other hand, the opponent side clearly stated that Singapore is not ready to take part in green chemistry industries due to the limitation of land use and other factors. They suggested that country such as China will be the best place to start with green chemistry.

The third group focused on implantation of microchip inside human body. The point of views from supporting side was clear and precise. The main purpose of implanting microchip is that medical workers can immediately gain access to an ill or injured person’s medical history regardless of location or condition. Moreover, a small chip will carry the personal information of a particular person. So it could reduce the chances of information theft. Supporting side also mentioned that the latest result of implantation of chip to animals showed improvements. However, there are some possible problems that need to consider carefully before adopting such kind of technology. There are several reasons people are against that set of technology. Privacy is the major concern among some group of people. Government or some particular organization can easily track of individual movements. The studies showed there is the higher chance of getting cancer after implantation of microchip.

The last group discussed on the carbon filter technology. It was rather an interesting topic. It is a set of technology that can remove contaminants from air, gas or liquid streams. By installing a small side carbon filter at the top of a factory’s chimney, the filter will efficiently removes even low levels of contaminant to a high level of purity. In fact the filter gives rise to a strong force of attraction for gaseous or liquid molecules. Despise all those advantages; there are some doubts about the ability of carbon filter technology. There is no solid evident of both physically and chemically in order to give enhanced performance across a wide range of particular applications.

Those are my understanding of roundtable discussion for other three groups. At the end of roundtable discussions, I can conclude that every technology has their own good and bad sides. This is our duty to research on those technologies and come out with the solutions. With our creations, we can make the world clean and green.