India and Korea differ in levels of development; India being a developing nation, while Korea is relatively more developed. Yet both have a multitude of commonalities. Both nations gained independence at approximately the same time; India in 1950 and Korea in 1948. They also adopted democratic political systems. The two nations have marked similarities in physiography, dominated by mountains, hills and rivers. The population density of Korea is nearly equal to India. The coastal area of Korea is reclaimed from sea and is modern, whereas the Indian coastal region has a mixed flavor of tradition and modernity.

India and Korea are both experiencing fast growth of megacities. With fast urbanization Korea has developed excellent city transportation and subway systems. India is also doing well in the field of urban transportation and it could benefit from co-operation from Korea in this sector. India and Korea experienced impressive economic reforms and liberalization at same time during 1990’s. India’s manufacturing sector and Korea’s electronic sector are performing well. Both the countries are attracting enormous numbers of foreign and domestic tourists.

Linkage between Green Technology and Human Health and Well-being
Innovation in the field of green technology will not only help to provide an alternative eco-friendly energy source but will also help livelihood security to a vast section of societies. Green technology has great potential to create various sources of earnings and thereby improve the quality of life of Indians and Koreans.

Green chemistry is a tool for chemists, chemical engineers, and other researchers from physical, chemical and biological sciences who design materials to help society toward the goal of sustainability of global health and well-being. Toxicological understanding and ‘environmental fate’ are necessary components for understanding the entire “molecular life cycle” of any commercial endeavour to make a significant contribution for achieving sustainable development. Since 2001, S.C. Johnson has had a process in place called Greenlist. “It’s really a process for rating the raw materials up that we use and the packaging for our products,” said Chris Librie, Director of Global Sustainability for the company. Green processes generate the smallest amount of waste and packaging which require the least amount of material. There was a time no so long ago when people would throw food scraps, peelings, etc., into the compost heap in the back corner of their garden. The rest of the household rubbish went into the dustbin in plastic sacks. Nowadays things have changed. Many companies are producing fully degradable bin bags, carrier bags and other plastic bags from polyethylene, using new additive technology to reduce the plastic to carbon dioxide and water in just a few weeks, so that now you can feed the compost heap with the plastic sacks too. An example of this technology can be seen with biodegradable polymers, which are designed to degrade upon disposal by the action of living organisms.

Extraordinary progress has been made in the development of practical processes and products from polymers such as starch and lactic acid. The need to create alternative biodegradable water-soluble polymers for down-the-drain products such as detergents and cosmetics has also taken on increasing importance. The two emerged economies of India and Korea can cooperate and collaborate on the above issues for global sustainability of health and wellbeing.

Green Technology / Chemistry Principles
According to America’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 12 Principles of ‘Green Chemistry’, which are important components of green technology, include the following: 1. Prevention- It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean it up after it has been created. 2. Atom EconomySynthetic methods should be designed to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product. 3. Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses- Wherever practicable, synthetic methods should be designed to use and generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment. 4. Designing Safer Chemicals- Chemical products should be designed to affect their desired function while minimizing their toxicity 5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries- The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary wherever possible and innocuous when used. 6. Design for Energy Efficiency- Energy requirements of chemical processes should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and should be minimized. 7. Use of Renewable feed stocks- A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically practicable. 8. Reduce Derivatives- Unnecessary derivatization (use of blocking groups, protection/ deprotection, temporary modification of physical/chemical processes) should be minimized or avoided. 9.Catalysis- Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric reagents, 10. Design for Degradation-Chemical products should be designed so that at the end of their function they break down into innocuous degradation products and do not persist in the environment, 11. Real-time analysis for Pollution Prevention- Analytical methodologies need to be further developed to allow for real-time, in-process monitoring and control prior to the formation of hazardous substances, 12. Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention- Substances and the form of a substance used in a chemical process should be chosen to minimize the potential for chemical accidents.

India, Korea and Green Technology
Environmental pollution and waste generation are problems faced not only in India and Korea but in many developing countries too. Many of these kinds of problems are created due to misinformed policies and strategies which are based on end-of pipe treatment, rather than pollution prevention at source. Most frequently, income generation activities are dependent on an efficient use of energy and other resources such as water, which may pose some serious problems to future generations.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals at the country level strongly recommend the imperative need to implement renewable energy resources in these countries and to implement energy conservation. Green technology is a sustainable practice which is playing a pivotal role in the use of solar energy together with the introduction of sustainable farming, recycling, etc. Green technology can also have a very strong impact on water sufficiency issues in the developing world where availability of these resources is the most vital issue. It is through the implementation of cleaner production and use of safe and biodegradable chemicals that a huge volume of wastewater could be reused.

Both India and Korea need to work for their own betterment by encouraging the practices of green technology. Governments could undoubtedly facilitate the formation of more effective industrial/academic partnerships. The India-Korea collaboration can promote green technology through education, information collection and dissemination, research and international collaboration via conferences, workshops, meetings and symposia. However, industry in India still needs to make significant improvement from the environmental point of view. A majority of industrial R&D there is mainly concerned with cost efficiency rather than eco-effective methods.

Continued from Page 33 Green Energy and Alternative Sources of Energy
Green energy is the term used to describe sources of energy that are considered to be environmentally friendly and non-polluting (because they are perceived to have lower carbon emissions) such as geothermal, wind, solar, and hydro power. Sometimes nuclear power is also considered a green energy source. Government deals on nuclear power is good option as traditional sources of non-renewable energy become increasingly scarce, making it part of the solution to global warming and growing demand for energy in India. We know that nuclear power plants, once built and before decommissioning begins, produce little carbon dioxide emissions, and the radioactive waste produced is minimal and well-contained, especially compared to fossil fuels.

However, the recent Fukushima disaster highlighted several critical and pressing issues for the safety of people living in regions near to nuclear power plants. Some people claim that the nuclear option is not price-competitive without heavy government subsidies and the use of government bodies to store and protect such a hazardous waste component. Compared to nuclear energy, solar energy is another viable option for a country like India, as it lies in such a sunny region of the world. Most parts of India receive 4-7 kWh of solar radiation per square metre per day, with 250-300 sunny days in a year. India has abundant solar resources, as it receives about 3000 hours of sunshine every year, equivalent to over 5,000 trillion kWh. Today the contribution of solar power with an installed capacity of 9.84 MW, is a fraction (< 0.1 percent) of the total renewable energy currently installed. Government-funded solar energy in India only accounted for approximately 6.4 MW-yr of power as of 2005.

Gujarat is the leading contributor to total solar energy output of India. In the solar energy sector, some large projects have been proposed, and a 35,000 km2 area of the Thar Desert has been set aside for solar power projects, sufficient to generate 700 GW to 2,100 GW. As of October 2009, India is currently ranked number one along with the United States in terms of solar energy production per watt installed. The Indian government has launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) with a target of achieving 20000 MW by 2022. The scheme also aims at strengthening indigenous manufacturing capability, and achieving 15 million sq. meters of solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20 million by 2022.

India is facing a sequence of factors that will drive solar photovoltaic adoption at a furious pace over the next five years and beyond. The falling prices of PV panels, mostly from China but also from the U.S., have coincided with the growing cost of grid power in India. Government support and ample solar resources have also helped to increase solar adoption, but perhaps the biggest factor has been need.

Additionally, there is a growing need for substances that will convert solar energy to electricity. For example, photovoltaic (PV) solar energy is based on semiconductor processing, and, accordingly, this form of energy harnessing benefits from steep cost reductions similar to those realized in the microprocessor industry (i.e., driven by larger scale, higher module efficiency, and improving processing technologies). Better and more efficient manufacturing processing and new technology such as advanced thin film solar cell are examples that can help to reduce industry cost. Energy conversions efficiencies can be achieved by using conductive polymers compared to inorganic materials.

We need solutions to increase the efficiency of solar cells. With transparent films and surface plasmons, solar cells should be seeing a dramatic increase in efficiency over the next few years. Hopefully, related costs will come down enough to the point where they become common in homes and businesses. Realizing the potential of solar energy, the honorable Prime Minister of India said, “We will pull together all our scientific, technical and managerial talents with financial sources to develop solar energy as a source of abundant energy to power our economy and to transform the lives of our people”.

Pharmaceuticals Industry
The pharmaceutical industry derives most of its ingredients from plants. Each step in the process generates waste. Plants make products at room temperature, using water, and producing no waste. Plant products have been utilized with varying success to cure and prevent diseases. There is a need to apply knowledge for development of traditional herbal drugs as adaptor genes and immune modulators which people have been using for centuries for safety and efficacy. This field of treatment is cultural accepted in both India and Korea.

Textile Industry
The textile industry is one of the highest revenue generating industries in India, accounting for a total of 32 percent of all exports. Recently the industry has been switching over to the use of microbial decolorization and degradation. There is also an increasing need of exploring biodiversity for natural dyes and developing ecofriendly methodology for synthetic dyes. A prominent application of green technology is apparently seen in the manufacturing and usage of organic cotton and its green and eco-friendly products. All these require more funding in the R&D areas of these respective fields, and greater interaction and coordination between industry, academia, and government in India and Korea would benefit all of mankind.

River Restoration Project – Lesson for India
A few years ago the Korean government launched the Four Rivers Restoration Project as a green initiative. The project is now a core national project for green growth that addresses such water-related problems of recurring floods and droughts caused by climate change. The Korean rivers are relatively short and steep, and flooding occurs quickly, as peak flood discharge is great. The project includes: 1. Flood control; 2. Securing abundant water; 3. Water quality improvement; 4. Restoring eco-rivers; 4. Creating multi-purpose space for residents, and; 5. River oriented regional development. Korea is emerging as a leader of river water management and waterfront restoration, sharing its experiences with other countries. North Indian Rivers have similar characteristics with Korea’s, and such restoration as described above is needed there too.

Concluding Remarks
Both the Indian and Korean governments have adopted green growth as a core national policy for carbon dioxide reduction and preparation for climate change. By introducing green technology education at all levels, governments can build a solid foundation towards global collaboration on sustainability of health and well-being in the light of our increasingly challenging scenario of climate change. Regarding business opportunities, environmental operations and the economic aspects of Indian-Korean Markets are going green. Collaborations within multi-disciplines will contribute to this research agenda by examining the role of people, industries, markets and flow of knowledge and technology between India and Korea.