Nanotechnology: GLRPPR Sector Resources

Resource: Frontiers in the Environment seminar series

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:33:57 GMT

Weekly seminar series with topics covering all aspects of the environment and sustainability. Live streaming at http://umconnect.umn.edu/IonEFrontiers. Archives of all seminars beginning in 2009 also available.

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Event: Frontiers in the Environment seminar series

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:31:44 GMT

Weekly seminar series with topics covering all aspects of the environment and sustainability. Live streaming at http://umconnect.umn.edu/IonEFrontiers.

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News: IL: Northwestern University Team Wins Energy Department's National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:07:54 GMT

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News: Northwestern University Team Wins Energy Department's National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:41:54 GMT

As part of the Obama Administration's Startup America Initiative that works to encourage and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation, the Energy Department today announced that NuMat Technologies from Northwestern University won the first-ever DOE National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition. The competition aims to inspire university teams across the country and promote entrepreneurship in clean energy technologies that will boost American competitiveness, bringing cutting-edge clean energy solutions to the market and strengthening our economic prosperity. NuMat Technologies presented a plan to commercialize a nanomaterial that stores gases at lower pressure, reducing infrastructure costs and increasing design flexibility. One potential application for this innovation is in designing tanks to store natural gas more efficiently in motor vehicles.

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Resource: 10 Years of Research: Risk Assessment, Human and Environmental Toxicology of Nanomaterials

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:06:42 GMT

In the future, nanotechnology and the resulting nanomaterials may represent the major key for solving the most important challenges facing our society in a range of pivotal areas of fundamental needs, including energy, the environment, climate, efficient use of resources, mobility, safety, information/communication, health and food supplies. In order to be able to make sustainable use of the opportunities offered by this technology, it is vital to ensure the safety of nanomaterials in their applications along their respective value creation chains and lifecycles. In the past decade, a large number of projects has already been started up and carried out in order to conduct research into the safety of nanomaterials, and these projects have delivered a series of important results for different nanomaterials. The following general conclusions can be drawn from the projects carried out to date under realistic conditions: -- A risk assessment -- where necessary in individual cases - should be performed on the basis of suitably modified and adapted OECD methods which have been validated and are internationally recognised. This confirms the OECD observation that the internationally recognised OECD methods and testing guidelines are suitable in principle for the testing of nanomaterials. -- The size label 'nano' does not also immediately mean 'toxic', so it does not represent an intrinsic hazard characteristic. For the benefit of all of society, the continuous transfer of research results from the laboratories into successful innovations should be continued, and this process should be supported with accompanying safety research. The following will be required for this safety research: -- financial means, combined with sufficient numbers of suitably qualified research scientists; -- coordinated research into areas of interactions between nanomaterials and humans and the environment, so that individual results can be combined into structure-activity relationships which can then be used as signposts for new, safe nanomaterial developments; -- compliance with research standards (e.g. through Standard Operating Procedures, SOPs) in order to ensure comparability and reproducibility of results; -- publication of negative research results as well, i.e. studies in which no toxicological effects of nanomaterials could be displayed, so that the overall picture is not distorted; -- topical assessment of lifecycles as soon as corresponding commercial applications start to emerge. These scientific investigations and approaches should be supplemented with measures to inform and engage in dialogue with the general public, so that they can understand the opportunities and safety aspects of nanomaterials, and hence the level of acceptance for this technology can be increased.

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Resource: A Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:18:06 GMT

This report presents a strategic approach for developing research and a scientific infrastructure needed to address potential health and environmental risks of nanomaterials.

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News: Nominations Sought for 2012 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:28:29 GMT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting nominations for the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce both the use and generation of chemicals that are hazardous to the environment and people's health. Nominations are due to the agency by December 31, 2011.

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News: Nominations Being Accepted for Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:39:46 GMT

Are your colleagues doing chemical research that includes reducing the use or generation of hazardous chemicals? Substituting an enzymatic reaction for a chemical one? Using a safer solvent? Finding a synthetic pathway that creates less waste? If so, their work involves green chemistry. Many researchers including Nobel Lauriat Bob Grubbs are doing excellent work in the field without necessarily identifying their work as green chemistry. Encourage your qualified colleagues to consider submitting nominations for the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. This prestigious award recognizes significant accomplishments in five categories each year.

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News: MI: GreenUp Event Examines Sustainable Innovations

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:25:47 GMT

DEQ has announced the 2011 Michigan Green Chemistry and Engineering, or GreenUp Conference, Oct. 27 at the University of Michigan's North Campus Research Complex in Ann Arbor. Green chemistry is the design of products and processes that minimize the use and generation of hazardous substances. This year's theme, "Advancing Innovation for a Sustainable Future," speaks to the list of noted professionals and academic leaders who will discuss the latest challenges and successes in sustainable chemistry and engineering.

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Resource: Scientists Create World?s Smallest Battery

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:21:57 GMT

Rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have become the workhorse of the contemporary electronic age, powering everything from cell phones and laptop computers to hybrid electric vehicles. But while superior to many alternatives for electrical energy storage, Li-ion batteries are not optimal in every respect. Despite much progress over the years, their performance and longevity still fall short of ideal. Could nanotechnology be harnessed to improve Li-ion battery performance? That is the premise of a University of Maryland-led Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC), one of 46 such research centers around the Nation established by the DOE Office of Science in 2009 to focus on overcoming basic science challenges on the road to a new energy economy for the Nation. In their effort to understand the behavior of Li-ion battery components at the nanoscale, researchers at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT)--a scientific user facility located at Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories-- constructed the world's smallest battery inside the high-vacuum sample chamber of a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The multi-disciplinary team included researchers from the Maryland-led EFRC and CINT users from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Pennsylvania. This article includes a citation for a related publication and a link to YouTube video showing the world's smallest battery charging in real time.

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