Page 36 - Environmental Nanotechnology Applications and Impacts of Nanomaterials

22 Nanotechnology as a Tool for Sustainability

for fluorescent bulbs. Department of Energy (DOE) road mapping stud-
ies predict that by 2025, government investments in nano-layered solid-
state lighting (SSL) will result in a 50 percent decrease in the amount
of U.S. electricity used for lighting and a 10 percent decrease in the total
U.S. electricity consumption overall. This will translate into a 17
gigawatt reduction in U.S. demand for electrical generating capacity and
the equivalent of more than 28 megatons per year reduction in U.S.
carbon emissions.
Nanomaterial applications are expected to play a major economic role
in increasing the efficiency of light sources, motors, electrodes, and
efficient wear-resistant material. In addition, nanoclusters, able to
increase the efficiency of catalytic processes, are thought to hold the
answer for reducing the emission of nitrogen oxides. Beyond applications
in materials science and catalysis, there is also great potential for first
order interaction between nanoscience and energy.
According to Dr. Timothy Fisher, associate professor of mechanical
engineering at Purdue University, nanoscience could have profound
implications for energy conversions and efficiency. “When materials are
being spatially confined, the energy states of the energy carriers change,”
he explains. This change in behavior can be particularly useful in direct
energy conversion technologies and energy transport in electron emis-
sion processes. Direct thermal-electrical conversion is particularly
appealing from an engineering point of view due to its ability to elimi-
nate moving parts. To reach the phase where nanoenergy conversion
devices could be produced, advancements in the field of nanoscale ther-
moelectrics are needed. According to research conducted at the Research
Triangle Institute, the use of nanoscale structures is thought to signif-
icantly improve thermoelectric performance.
Nanomaterials (e.g., carbon nanotubes) also offer a solid path to updat-
ing energy transmission. Since they are strong and conduct energy six
times better than copper, they make sense as a new option. Their size
is another advantage, especially in places like New York City that have
run out of underground real estate. In NYC, the underground utility cor-
ridors are so full of copper wires, it is joked that they have the greatest
supply of copper in the world.
Carbon nanotube cables would be small enough to be added to exist-
ing corridors. When demand outpaced supply, metropolitan utility com-
panies would have another alternative than buying expensive real estate.

Smalley Electricity Vision
One attractive candidate for the “new oil” fuel of the coming century is
electricity, with local storage technology and long distance transmission
holding the key to a new energy world. The single biggest problem of