2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).
Keywords: nanophotonics; energy efficiency; solar energy; atmospheric radiation; spectral
selectivity.
Paper 10087CTR received Nov. 29, 2010; revised manuscript received Dec. 20, 2010; accepted
for publication Dec. 23, 2010; published online Feb. 3, 2011; corrected Mar. 3, 2011.
Nanotechnology, Society, and Environment
P Murphy, Dublin City University, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
D Munshi and P A Kurian, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
A Lakhtakia, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
R V Bartlett, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
ª 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Green Nanoenergy Resources in the Age of Nanoscience Technologies
Jamal S. Shrair
Abstract
Nanoscience technology is the ability to arrange, control and combine atoms and molecules at the nanoscale. This ability can equip us with the know-how to build electrical, biological and mechanical nano-micromachines that can replace most of today’s manufacturing processes and tools. The impact of nanotechnology on scientific progress, economic and social development is going to be enormous. If we look towards the domain of health care, nanomedicine can reduce existing costs substantially and cure most, if not all, currently incurable diseases. Nanotechnology products that are being developed in a number of industries can have great benefits for space applications and deep space exploration missions. In the energy sector, which is the biggest and the most challenging issue facing us, advances in nanotechnology can solve certain issues successfully; fossil fuels can become cleaner, safer and cheaper to produce, in a more environmentally friendly manner. Renewable resources can become cheaper to produce and easier to implement. In the domain of nuclear energy, Uranium-based reactors would be safer, smaller in size, and more cost effective, while their radioactive byproducts can be recycled. More importantly, nanostructured material and new laser devices can be developed that will allow us to extract nuclear energy without resorting to brute-force methods and radioactive byproducts. Furthermore, as we approach the limits of Moore's Law, nanotechnology breakthroughs are vital for constructing faster computers that will allow artificial intelligence to develop rapidly. Integrated nano-microsystems would benefit researchers in the field of human biology. A correlation between mind-body connection and other communications external to the body can be found and the field of biological morphogenesis and telepathy would take great leap forward. But, the idea of singularity and that an algorithmically-programmed computer can develop human-like consciousness can be considered as ludicrous. The human brain is not only a neurological machine. Even on the arithmetic level, the processing power of the human brain is unknown. While on the one hand theoreticians are proposing almost anything as having some finite probability of occurring, on the other hand they discard all the principles of physics. Many theoreticians and science fiction writers who claim to be physicists cannot provide mathematical consistency to their theories, not to mention experimental support of any kind. The so-called theory of singularity contradicts all present known laws of nature and the laws of physical reality.
