Page 27 - Environmental Nanotechnology Applications and Impacts of Nanomaterials

Nanotechnology and the Environment 13

have observed is that the methods for producing nanomaterials often
appear to become “greener” as they move from laboratory to industrial pro-
duction. Moreover, setting aside the highly speculative issue of nanoma-
terials toxicity, these preliminary results suggest that the fabrication of
nanomaterials entails risks that are less than or comparable to those
associated with many current industrial activities, such as computer
manufacturing.
It would be naïve to imagine that the emerging nanomaterials indus-
try will not leave unforeseen and undesirable traces on our environment.
To minimize these impacts, environmental engineers and scientists
should be actively engaged in ensuring that this industry is conceived
from the outset as a system with global consequences that begin at the
molecular scale. However, they must also be positioned to apply con-
vergent knowledge at the molecular scale to respond to some of the
world’s most pressing problems. Dysentery resulting from a lack of
access to sanitation facilities and potable water remains the single
largest killer on our planet. Agricultural productivity will continue to
be limited in many regions by water availability.
Water and sanitation are closely linked with access to a sustainable
supply of energy, while energy production and use have proven to have
major consequences for human health and the environment. Today,
those of us living in highly industrialized nations account for less than
13 percent of the world’s population and half of the world’s energy con-
sumption. More than a quarter of the world’s population has no access
to electricity today, and even more must rely on firewood, animal waste,
and other sources of combustible biomass for basic cooking and heating
needs. In both the developed and developing nations, the pollution gen-
erated in the combustion of oil, gas, and biomass pose numerous threats
to human health and the environment in the form of indoor air pollu-
tion, acidification of water and soil, and global warming, to name a few.
The convergence of disciplines at the nanoscale creates opportunities for
discovering new solutions to these problems as well as the challenge of
ensuring the cure is not worse than the disease.

References
1. Feynman, R., There’s plenty of room at the bottom, speech presented at the annual
meeting of the American Physical Society, California Institute of Technology, December
29, 1959.
2. Drexler, K.E., Molecular engineering: An approach to the development of general
capabilities for molecular manipulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences USA, 1981. 78:5275–5278.
3. Commission, E., Nanotechnologies: A preliminary risk analysis on the basis of a work-
shop March 2004 in Nanotechnologies: A Preliminary Risk Analysis, R.A.U.P.H.a.R.A.
Directorate, Editor. 2004, European Commission Community Health and Consumer
Protection Directorate General of the European Commission: Brussels, pp. 11–29.