Power Bits: April 3
Nanoeconomics
Nano and green technology frequently go hand in hand, but so far the focus has been on the “gee whiz” factor rather than how much this stuff really costs. An ongoing study by Georgia Tech is about to change all of that.
Researchers Philip Shapira and Jan Youtie have launched a study into the impact of nanotechnologies on energy, the environment and safe drinking water, balancing efficiency gains and performance against the net energy, environmental, carbon and other costs associated with production.
This multidisciplinary research is a first, and it could pave the way for stripping away some of the hype about new technology and replacing it with cold hard facts. Among the areas under study are nano-enabled solar cells, nanogenerators using piezoelectric materials, energy storage, nano insulation and nano additives for fuel. This one should be interesting.
Brown Fields
Next time someone talks about greenhouse gases and the need for a better energy policy, blame fertilizer. UC Berkeley researchers analyzed the nitrous oxide in the atmosphere and discovered that fertilizer is a major contributing factor.
Nitrous oxide, aka laughing gas, is the same stuff that was used by dentists to make people forget about having cavities filled in their teeth. But in the atmosphere, nitrous oxide is the third-most potent greenhouse gas—after carbon dioxide and methane. Cows, auto exhaust, and coal-fired industrial facilities are still a problem, but so are the chemicals used to make crops and lawns grow faster and bigger.
The Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station in Tasmania. Source: UC Berkeley.
The scientists came to their conclusions after analyzing air samples taken from Antarctic ice, called “fim” air, dating back to 1940 and air taken from an atmospheric monitoring station at Cape Grim in Tasmania, which has archived air since 1978. Nitrous oxide is clearly on the rise in the stratosphere, which no doubt will lead to some interesting changes in the application and content of fertilizer.
–Ed Sperling
Tags: Georgia Tech, global warming, piezoelectricity, UC Berkeley