Apr 20 2007
The ability to eliminate waste and toxins from production processes early on, to create more efficient and flexible solar panels, and to remove contaminants from water, is becoming an exciting reality with nanotechnology. This “green nanotechnology” involves designing nanoproducts for the environment and with the environment in mind. Green nano is not just a niche among a few scientists or environmentalists. The investment community has recognized these green nano advances as big business and rewarded corporate innovators. A recent article, “Green is Gold,” advises investors: “Nowhere is the vision of technology in the service of sustainability more promising than in the field of nanotechnology,” (Forex Market, 3/15/07).
On April 26, 2007, the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies will release its first report on green nanotechnology, which highlights the research breakthroughs, industry perspectives, and policy options in this exciting field. The publication, Green Nanotechnology: It’s Easier Than You Think, is written by journalist and science writer, Karen Schmidt.
The report is based on a series of dialogues on green nanotechnology held at the Wilson Center last spring, with several scientists, policymakers, lawyers, and NGO and industry representatives. It also draws from a symposium the American Chemical Society organized on nanotechnology and the environment at its annual meeting.
Please join us for the release of this report with James Hutchison, a University of Oregon chemist who applies green chemistry principles in his production of gold nanoparticles; Barbara Karn, an Environmental Protection Agency scientist who kicked off the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies’ Green Nano initiative while on detail at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; and John Carberry, an industry representative, who will discuss how it is both possible and profitable to be green with nanotechnology.