Green Technology Forum

“In the future,” says Dr. Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, “it may be possible for citizens in Bangladesh to place contaminated water in inexpensive transparent bottles that will disinfect the water when placed in direct sunlight, or for doctors in Mexico to give patients inhalable vaccines that do not need refrigeration. Nanotechnologies could revolutionize health care in developing countries and make treatments more readily available for diseases that claim millions of lives around the world each year.”

Nano Chemical Systems has created nano-enhanced, environmentally friendly, “green” oils and lubricants from waste by-products of palm biodiesel production. Their process can offset the cost of palm biodiesel production, bringing its price below the cost per barrel of crude oil. As a feedstock for biodiesel, palm oil has the advantage of requiring far less land than soy and has a yield of 6,000 liters per hectare, compared to only 446 liters per hectare for soy.

“Five years from now it could be the dot-com boom all over again, but the clean and green technology boom,” said Margaret Bruce of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group at a meeting of the Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities last week, where representatives of the private sector made clear they will support green practices.

“Around the world, there is a growing urgency about nanotechnology and its possible health and environmental impacts,” warns the director of the University of Oregon’s Material Sciences Institute. “There is a concern that these issues will hinder commercialization of this industry.” Green chemistry, he argues, can sharply reduce the use of toxic solvents and produce safer products with reduced chances for unintended consequences.

SustainLane is a free open-source knowledge base facilitating discovery, research and networking with more than 75 best practice documents and a secure directory of participating government officials from over 180 cities, counties and states. Check out their Top US Cities for Cleantech Incubation Clusters, which cites Berkeley for its biotech industry and San Jose for nanotechnology, among others.

The European Union says in its new Study on the Future Opportunities and Challenges in EU-China Trade that China’s need for green technologies and services is a huge opportunity - a market estimated to be worth $129 billion by 2010. China’s domestic policy making, the report notes, is now strongly focused on the need for environmentally sustainable economic growth. In addition to service needs, the Chinese market for high-value goods is estimated to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2010.

A new survey asked over 400 nanotechnology executives to reveal their most urgent research needs. The answer? More study of high-volume manufacturing methods for nanotech materials and products. Thirty-nine percent of respondents found manufacturing research most needed, with basic long-term research a distant second at 15%.

BioJobs lists jobs and fellowships in all branches of biology. Included are over 1,000 listings in academic, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations, as well as postdoctoral fellowships, internships, graduate fellowships and assistantships.

The USDA’s BioPreferred program is a resource for producers of biobased products, federal agencies required to purchase them, and others interested in renewable products. It includes information on submitting products for designation, instructions on meeting requirements to purchase biobased materials, and over 100 product listings. The program aims to promote biobased materials, thereby lessening our national dependence on foreign oil, creating new jobs in rural communities, and providing new markets for farm commodities.

A team of Japanese scientists have created an enzyme-based biofuel cell they hope to use as a power source for implantable devices in humans. Pacemakers, insulin pumps, sensors and prosthetic units could all be powered one day by such simple “one compartment” biofuel cells.