The needs from energy and material resources are increasing continuously. Some new materials and nano-materials need much energy for its fabrications. The regeneration of such materials is also a complex problem. Efficiency of electricity generation is source of big amount of waste heat, CO2 generation and problems of transportation and supper productions in some time. Growing standard of life in developing countries ask more and more energy and material resources!
yes it is very much important for science , engineering and also the technology. bcoz now a days there is a need for energy and material resources, for that the type of material used is very much important that need to be considered.for example now a days there are electronic components everywhere that deliver power to various sources and if that e-component itself consumes much power, it's waste. that's why the use of nanotechnology has revolution-ed the field of electronics and moreover it has made a remark in the fabrication if the IC'S which consumes less power and dissipate less heat than the previous ones and also there is a need for low power IC'S and also the green electronics which doesn't cause environment pollution.
** and its is not only related to electronics , all the engineering, science and technology students should know it as it's very important to protect the mother nature. it should be made a compulsory subject as a part in academics ***
Georgi,
I think that energy and material efficiency is THE most important topic facing us today. As you wrote, there is a growing demand for energy in emerging economies, as well as a demand for more material resources. I feel that development of new materials is one of the most effective ways to address these problems. New materials lead to things like more efficient photovoltaic materials; or structural materials that are just as resilient but use less material; or improved CO2 capture. New materials also bring us improved catalysts that reduce the energy demand in manufacturing, and which enble fabrication from diverse feedstocks.
As a scientist, this is one way that I can contribute to solving the looking problems facing us - by helping to develop these new materials.
-George
George, I am appreciating your opinion. I also have activity in material science and told many on importance of new materials, including nano-structured materials for PV devices. In the same time I understand that we must evaluate energy consumption of fabrication of these new and amazing materials. Some new materials increase a litle the energy efficiency of the electricity generation, but for its production must be consumed a lot of energy!
The responsibility of scientists is to evaluate the efficiency of every new technology and material. So energy and material efficiency evaluation is also a important task, that will show the priority of development of the new materials and technologies.
As Energy and materials are the base for the evolution the logical answer is yes. Then if we consider that the materials and the energy sources we have now are the same as 30-40 years ago (LERN and cold fusion have to come yet) the only way for the exit of an economical (really financial) crisis is to improve to the best what we have now. Now we cannot loose what we have and for this we have to improve. In anthropology is well shown that human gender has developed intelligence only when there were problems to overcome. The same is now; crisis has to be seen not as a limit but as an occasion.
Luca, your argument that energy and materials are base for evolution is perfect!
I wish to add, that in last twenty years between new materials come a revolution-nanotechnology (and nano-structured or nano-dimensional materials! In energy become a change too-the distribution of solar and wind energy sources(as well as biofuels, geothermal energy etc.) So-in last 20 years we see new energy solutions and new amazing materials with new properties. Economy crisis only make more slowly to develop these innovations.
Problem which I just formulated was the need of estimation of energy price of every new technology and material!
Georgi,
How do you estimate the total energy cost for a new material? For example, say you have a new polymer that is very expensive (in energy terms) to fabricate; but when you build a car out of it, the lighter weight saves on fuel. Are those the sorts of things you are looking into?
Georgi, I agree with you; the nanotechnologies brought a revolution in material science similar to the introduction of computers in everyday life. Unfortunately nanoparticles often have different proprieties with respect to the same materials in bigger scale. This can create some kind of danger to health and so their use has to be evaluated carefully. It is well known that in the last 15 years the air ways illness and allergies have increased (as has increased the use of nanoparticles). Besides the production of nanoparticles for what I know requires a lot of energy as there are low yields in the production of the right nanoparticles (i.e. nanopipes)
Regarding energy you centered the problem: the distribution. In italy the electric energy network has losses up to 10% of the energy crossing the cables so the capillary distribution of energy production can improve the yields up of the 10% without do nearly nothing. In my opinion the first step to the success in energy production is to increase the yields (this reduces the pollution of the same extent, as one needs less fuel to get the same energy required).
Thank you,George for question. I have not easy ansver how to made estimation of energy in all concrete situations- but I only focused attention on that problem!
Luca, I accept your worries from medical problem from nanoparticles, that were not existing in nature before nanotechnology revolution!
I am interested in capillary distribution of energy production? Could you appointed a site or any other source to learn for that.
I am 100% agree, that energy generation must be improved-and there renewable sources are important improvement (unfortunately- also with some energy consumption for their fabrication)
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