$7 billion in nanotechnology will make autos leaner and cleaner

By 2015, experts predict revenues from nanomaterials in automotive applications will reach almost $7 billion. Ford is conducting nanotechnology research with Boeing and Northwestern University to create lighter weight metals and plastics with greater strength, ultimately helping improve safety and fuel economy. And Tesla Motors is working on an electric sedan using Nano-Safe batteries that will sell for $50,000.

UN weighs nanotechnology's environmental risks and benefits

The United Nations Global Environmental Outlook Yearbook 2007 features a chapter dedicated to

Nanotechnology and the Environment. It’s a balanced synopsis of nanotech risks and benefits along with some recommendations for the future. Here I’ve boiled it down to its basics:

“Nanoparticles have the potential to deliver environmental benefits both in production processes and in products. Nanomaterials can substitute for conventional materials that require more raw material, are more energy-intensive to produce, or are known to be environmentally harmful. New nanotechnologies seem poised to enhance environmental protection and improve pollution detection and remediation.”

BENEFITS:

Replace conventional materials that require more raw material or energy to produce

Reduce use of chemicals and materials, particularly those with negative environmental impacts such as pesticides

Build environmental sensors of higher sensitivity and lower cost

Reduce industrial and vehicular emissions

Produce photocatalytic surfaces that attract and neutralize pollutants

Produce self-cleaning surfaces

Create longer-lasting, safer batteries

Create more efficient, less expensive solar cells

Enable better storage of emission-free fuels

Improve water purification

Enable room-temperature industrial processes (saving energy as compared to current high-temperature processes)

Create higher strength, lighter weight materials

RISKS:

Could be highly reactive due to large surface area and small size

Long-term stability in the environment unknown

Ability to remain airborne due to small size and light weight

Potential interaction with aquatic ecosystems and soil unknown

Potential for biodegradability unknown

Known toxicological effects of some nanoparticles on some plants and animals

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Apply life cycle analysis to nanomaterials to determine long-term effects

Improve ability to measure, detect, and differentiate nanoparticles in the environment

Further study toxicological effects

Assess current methodologies for assessing ecotoxicological effects

Evaluate environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials prior to mass production

Standardize nomenclatures and test protocols

Foster cooperation between public and private sectors, developed and developing nations, among developed nations, and between governments and intergovernmental organizations

Enhance regulatory and environmental organizations’ awareness of nanotechnology benefits and risks

Support sustainable development through nanotechnology

Share existing private sector best practices in nanotechnology risk management

Educate the public about nanotechnology

Hybrid nanomaterials and carbon nanotube structures improve solar cell efficiency

Scientists are growing skyscraper-like towers composed of carbon nanotubes atop photovoltaic cells to extract more power from the sun. Reflections off the towers provide more opportunity for each photon of sunlight to interact with the cells, increasing their power output. Meanwhile, others are adding photoactive nanostructured inorganic semiconductors into polymer-based, thin-film photovoltaic devices to produce efficient, flexible, and potentially inexpensive devices.

2008 budget expands nanotech research funding

Nanotechnology research would get a boost under President Bush's proposed $6.55 billion U.S. Commerce Department budget. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), one of the department's scientific components, would receive $641 million, a 21 percent increase, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, swamped with nanotech patent applications, would receive an 8.2 percent increase in its budget. Nanotechnology "promises to redefine 21st century manufacturing just as the assembly line redefined 20th century manufacturing,'' said NIST director William Jeffrey. And National Science Foundation funding for nanotechnology research would climb to $390 million, up 4.5 percent from the level proposed in 2007.

Climate change as economic opportunity

Swiss-based banking and investment giant UBS has released a 106-page report with a section on the investment risks and opportunities of climate change. The report identifies key investment opportunities and threats, translates them into concrete proposals for investment strategy, and lists areas that could be possible investment opportunities, including pure-play industrial biotechnology companies, turbine manufacturers, producers of insulation materials and high performance windows, global positioning systems, and providers of real-time traffic information.