How Green can Nanotechnology Be?

How Green can Nanotechnology Be?



   
April 2007 -   The ability to use 
nanotechnology to reduce pollution, conserve resources and 
build a "clean" economy now exists, finds a new report "Green 
Nanotechnology: It's Easier Than You Think." But 
environmentalists are at odds about how green nanotechnology 
can be. Not all nanoparticles are harmful to human health and 
the environment, but some are. Nanotech critics fear that 
without government oversight the industry may release harmful 
particles into the air and water. 
Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and 
manufacture things on an atomic or molecular scale, usually 
between one and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth 
of a meter - a human hair is 100,000 nanometers wide. 
The report explores potentially beneficial links between 
nanotechnology and green chemistry and engineering, which aim 
to minimize environmental impacts through resource 
conservation and waste elimination in processes and products.
 Scientist uses a nanolithography hot embosser to create new 
biohazard detection and medical diagnosis technologies. 
Summarizing proceedings at a national American Chemical 
Society symposium and four workshops held in 2006, the report 
was authored by science writer Karen Schmidt for the Project 
on Emerging Nanotechnologies, an initiative of the Woodrow 
Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew 
Charitable Trusts. 
A "strong marriage" between nanotechnology and the principles 
and practices of green chemistry and green engineering "holds 
the key to building an environmentally sustainable society in 
the 21st century," Schmidt writes. 
"We think the United States is on track to be a global leader 
in green nanotech," said David Rejeski, director of the 
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. "The country's research 
and development portfolio should be directed toward this goal. 
We believe green nanotechnology can not only help protect the 
environment but also be a source of American jobs and company 
profits in the future." 
Nanotechnology can be utilized to clean up toxic waste sites. 
Chemist Vicki Colvin and her Rice University colleagues, for 
instance, have discovered that magnetic nanoparticles can 
remove more than 99 percent of the arsenic in a solution, 
while their counterparts at Oklahoma State University have 
engineered nanoscale senvironment newsors that can detect
 pollutants at the 
level of parts per billion. 
A flexible photovoltaic cell based on nanomaterials made at 
the University of Michigan Department of Materials Science and 
Engineering 
Nanotechnology has opened new ways of making inexpensive solar 
cells as well as improving the performance and lowering the 
cost of fuel cells, the energy source for future cars and 
trucks. 
University of Oregon chemist James Hutchison uses DNA 
molecules in a process that holds promise for building 
nanoscale patterns on silicon chips. The experimental method 
saves materials and requires less water and solvent than the 
traditional methods. 
Other researchers are investigating nanoscale approaches to 
replace lead and other toxic materials in electronics 
manufacturing. 
"We are on an unsustainable path," said Paul Anastas, director 
of the American Chemical Society's Green Chemistry Institute. 
"It is not as though nanotechnology will be an option; it is 
going to be essential for coming up with sustainable 
technologies." 
The report concludes with recommendations for proactive 
federal policy measures to help the field of nanotechnology to 
"grow up" green, ranging from developing metrics for 
evaluating bottom-line environmental impacts to using federal 
procurement to foster demand for green nanoproducts. 
"Nanotechnology potentially is a doubly green dream. It offers 
us the opportunity to make products and processes green from 
the beginning," said Barbara Karn, an environmental scientist 
who helped organize the green nanotechnology programs with the 
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. 
"And it allows us to substitute more environmentally-friendly 
chemicals, materials and manufacturing processes for older, 
more polluting ones," said Karn. 
But there is a controversy brewing among environmentalists 
about how green nanotechnology can be without government 
regulation. 
In an open letter issued April 12, a coalition of public 
interest, environmental and labor organizations criticized a 
voluntary research safety plan for the nanotech industry. The 
"Nano Risk Framework" is proposed by Environmental Defense, a 
conservation group, in partnership with DuPont, one of the 
companies involved in nanotechnology development. 
The intent of the Framework, say DuPont and Environmental 
Defense is "to define a systematic and disciplined process for 
identifying, managing, and reducing any environmental, health, 
and safety risks of engineered nanomaterials across all stages 
of a product's lifecycle." 
Nanotech critics worry that harmful nanoparticles might escape 
from labs into the environment. 
Critics, including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the 
International Center for Technology Assessment, the Natural 
Resources Defense Council, the Silicon Valley Toxics 
Coalition, the AFL-CIO, and two other labor unions, said the 
Framework reflects corporate interests and is "at best, a 
public-relations campaign that detracts from urgent worldwide 
oversight priorities." 
"We reject outright the proposed voluntary framework as 
fundamentally flawed," the coalition wrote in an open letter 
to the international nanotechnology community. "We strongly 
object to any process in which broad public participation in 
government oversight of nanotech policy is usurped by industry 
and its allies." 
"We made the decision not to engage in this process out of 
well-grounded concerns that our participation - even our 
skeptical participation - would be used to legitimize the 
proposed framework as a starting point or ending point for 
discussing nanotechnology policy, oversight and risk 
analysis," the coalition wrote. 
With the value of nanotech-enabled products entering the 
global market expected to grow from $30 billion in 2005 to 
$2.6 trillion by 2014, "numerous uncertainties exist regarding 
possible impacts on the environment and human health," Karn 
and her colleagues said in a March report on the risks of 
nanotechnology. 
"The lack of toxicity data specific to nanomaterials is a 
repeating theme in this and in other studies related to 
nanotech environmental, health, and safety concerns," said 
Andrew Maynard, chief scientist for the Project on Emerging 
Nanotechnologies. 
"Nanotechnology is no longer a scientific curiosity. Its 
products are in the workplace, the environment, and home. But 
if people are to realize nanotechnology's benefits - in 
electronics, medicine, sustainable energy, and better 
materials for building, clothing and packaging," Maynard said.
 "The federal government needs an effective risk research 
strategy and sufficient funding in agencies responsible for 
oversight to do the job," he said. 
"The report calls for international cooperation and 
coordination - among governments, university researchers, 
corporations, and consumer and other groups - to help address 
critical data needs," Karn said. 
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies researchers stress the 
need for nano-specific protocols and practical methodologies 
for toxicology studies as well as studies on the fate and 
transport of nanoparticles. 

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