The need for clean and affordable energy tops the list of problems the world is facing. Innovations at the microscopic level can enable solutions. Research and development in nano technology will provide science and engineering advances in the 21st century. These will be as revolutionary and transforming to society as electricity, transportation, computers and communications have proved to be in the 20th century .
The world consumes 15 terawatts (TW) of energy per year or 172 million barrels of oil equivalent annually. By 2050, worldwide demand is forecast to be 30 TW to 60 TW of energy. While this seems a major increase and a daunting task to fulfill, there is promise in enabling breakthroughs.
One example of possible nano technology solutions is using sunlight to split water and/or CO2 atoms to produce renewable liquid hydrocarbons. This would result in hydrogen production as well as CO2 being used as a feedstock as opposed to it being discharged as a waste product.
Other potential applications of nano technology would be to create highly sensitive catalysts that produce minimum waste, low cost fuel cells that require no precious metals, and transmission lines based on carbon nano tubes for increased capacity and efficiency.
The world consumes 15 terawatts (TW) of energy per year or 172 million barrels of oil equivalent annually. By 2050, worldwide demand is forecast to be 30 TW to 60 TW of energy. While this seems a major increase and a daunting task to fulfill, there is promise in enabling breakthroughs.
One example of possible nano technology solutions is using sunlight to split water and/or CO2 atoms to produce renewable liquid hydrocarbons. This would result in hydrogen production as well as CO2 being used as a feedstock as opposed to it being discharged as a waste product.
Other potential applications of nano technology would be to create highly sensitive catalysts that produce minimum waste, low cost fuel cells that require no precious metals, and transmission lines based on carbon nano tubes for increased capacity and efficiency.
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