Nanotechnology, Climate and Energy: Over-Heated Promises?
Friends of the Earth has released a new report debunking industry promises that nanotechnology offers solutions to the most pressing environmental problems, including climate change. The report by Friends of the Earth groups in the United States, Europe and Australia examines the nanotechnology industry's green claims, and concludes they don't stack up.
The report evaluates current and near-term energy generation technologies, energy savings applications and the energy demands of using nanotechnology in the majority of applications where there is no potential for energy savings - such as cosmetics, sports equipment, electronic goods, cleaning products, and others.
It finds that although there are some energy applications where nanotechnology may deliver new efficiencies or functionalities, on the whole, the use of nanotechnology will come at a large energy and environmental cost. Many of the claims made regarding nanotechnology’s environmental performance are not matched by reality. The sector’s energy and environmental costs are far higher than expected.
Manufacturing carbon nanofibres requires 13 to 50 times the energy required to manufacture smelting aluminium, and 95-360 times the energy to make steel, on an equal mass basis. A team of United States researchers has concluded that single walled carbon nanotubes may be “one of the most energy intensive materials known to humankind”. They estimate the energy required to make a single kilogram of carbon nanotubes may be equivalent to that found in 167 barrels of oil.
The report also reveals that despite some governments’ green rhetoric, public funding is also being used to develop nanotechnology to find and extract more oil and gas. Not only have the world’s biggest petrochemical companies established a joint consortium to develop nanotechnology to find and extract more oil and gas, public funding is being used to support similar research in Australia and elsewhere.
The report concludes that nanotechnology is not an unqualified environmental saviour nor will its widespread use in everything from socks to face creams enable us to pursue ‘business as usual’ while substantively reducing our environmental footprint. At best, such claims can be interpreted as the result of wishful thinking on the part of proponents; at worst they can be seen as misleading greenwash.
The report cuts through the greenwash, evaluates the evidence, and concludes that the nanotechnology industry’s green claims don’t stack up. It demands that the Federal Government reassess its assumptions about nanotechnology’s role in responding to climate change.
Source: Friends of the Earth Australia Press Release
Download the Report