The NanoBusiness Alliance today announced that nanotechnology’s positive impact on the environment will be the focus of a number of sessions at the upcoming NanoBusiness 2007 Conference and Exhibition at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, New York City from April 15 - 17, 2007.
“Nanotechnology is on the frontier of global innovation in a variety of sectors,” said Vincent Caprio, Vice President and Executive Director, NanoBusiness Alliance, “which is being reflected in our conference program with a particular emphasis in ‘cleantech’ - renewable energy and clean water, advanced materials, healthcare, defense, textiles, electronics and construction.”
On Monday, April 16th at 2 pm, NanoBusiness 2007 will begin to take an in-depth look at the state of nanotech in a number of these areas with the following sessions:
Solar Energy: Investing in a Bright, Clean Future - Energy is the largest business in the world. The growing thirst for fossil-fuel based energy by developing economies in Asia, compounded by political strife in energy-rich areas of the world, has created an unprecedented demand and a volatile supply. Solar energy has long been recognized as a potential solution - 175,000 terawatts of solar energy hit the earth every day, three-thousand times the amount we would need to power the entire world. Nanotechnology is at the forefront of solar cell development from the mechanism from capturing light to the means to convert it into electricity and conduct the power to the devices that need it.
This panel will discuss the issues surround the commercialization of solar cells: What conditions for the price of fossil-fuel energy need to be met for solar energy to be a cost-competitive alternative? When will we reach that threshold? What are the models for extracting value from providing solar cell technology? What are the infrastructure costs of deploying this new technology?
Water Purification: Quenching the Thirst for Clean Water - Over 40% of the world – 2 billion people – lack access to clean drinking water. As noted by the Financial Times of London, "Water, like energy in the late 1970s, will probably become the most critical natural resource issue facing most parts of the world by the start of the next century."
Nanomaterials, by virtue of their high surface area and small size, make excellent candidates for water filtration. This panel will discuss how this technology can improve the economics of filtration: What are the major cost-factors in purification? What are the capital costs of deploying a new filtration technology? What is the market for water like in the U.S. and how do regulations affect it?
Automotive: Driving Down Emissions - Global warming is a high-profile agenda item for the new Democratic congress and automobiles have long been recognized as a major source of greenhouse gasses. While carmakers are reacting to this problem by producing hybrid vehicles, these are still expensive and require technology and infrastructure that will take time to develop. Nanotechnology provides solutions to improve the efficiency of fuel combustion, lower the weight of vehicles without sacrificing safety and produce cleaner exhaust without requiring significantly new manufacturing processes or infrastructure.
This panel will discuss the factors that will drive the adoption and commercialization of these technologies: Do automakers have sufficient incentive to invest in driving down emissions? Will this technology ultimately be driven by regulation? Is this technology more likely to emerge abroad before it does in the U.S.? What are the challenges to scaling this technology so it can be deployed on a wide scale?
Green Architecture: Bringing Nanotech to the Built Environment - Green architecture is a movement to not only make the resulting buildings more environmentally friendly but to make them more efficient and cheaper to maintain by conserving energy and using materials that are treated to last longer. Nanotechnology promises better insulating dry-wall, the ability to convert “waste heat” into electricity, solar paneling for roofs and quick-curing, wear-resistant concrete.
This panel will discuss the challenges of introducing new technology into the established construction industry: What is the correct channel strategy for introducing the product? Will new technologies require new skills from construction workers? Will the market be restricted to new construction or can these technologies be applied to existing buildings? Are there applications other than housing for these materials?
“The NanoBusiness Alliance has long been at the forefront of environmental health and safety issues, and this year’s focus on the environment benefits of nanotech is the next logical step in our work within this area,” said Sean Murdock, Executive Director, NanoBusiness Alliance. “Nanotechnology is the driving force behind a number of innovative technologies aimed at improving conditions on our planet, and we’re proud to provide an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the state of development at our NanoBusiness 2007 conference.”
In addition, NanoBusiness 2007 will host a Cleantech Investing Forum on April 17th at 9:30 am.
About NanoBusiness 2007
Set in the heart of New York City, the NanoBusiness 2007 conference will bring together financial luminaries from Wall Street like Wilbur Ross and the CEOs of the most promising nanotechnology companies in the industry. These companies are on the frontier of global innovation in sectors such as “cleantech” - renewable energy and clean water, advanced materials, healthcare, defense, textiles, electronics and construction. The conference focuses on the commercial aspects of nanotechnology in each of these sectors and provides a forum for capital providers and innovators to meet, build relationships and learn from each other’s perspectives.
For complete event information, please visit http://www.nanobusiness2007.com. For information on sponsoring or exhibiting at NanoBusiness 2007, please contact Vincent Caprio – vcaprio@nanobusiness.org.
