AVS2004 Session TS-ThM: Sustainable Manufacturing, Nanotechnology, and Environmental Policy

Thursday, November 18, 2004 9:00 AM in Room 303D

Thursday Morning

Start	Invited?	Item
9:00 AM	Invited	TS-ThM-3 Engineering, Business, and the Next Environmental Frontier: Will Sustainability Solutions Self-Assemble? S.J. Skerlos (The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor) This presentation highlights the central role of business and engineering in the Next Environmentalism. Characteristics of sustainable design and principles of green engineering are discussed in the context of numerous manufacturing examples in the automotive and consumer electronics industries. Such examples are also utilized to demonstrate incentives and inhibitors to accelerated corporate adoption of sustainability practices.
9:40 AM	Invited	TS-ThM-5 Emerging Applications for Electrodeposited Nano-Structured Materials: Environmental Benefits and Potential Risks G. Palumbo (Integran Technologies, Inc., Canada) From the first engineering structural application for nanostructured materials in 1993 (the Electrosleeve process for nuclear component repair), electrodeposition has emerged as one of the most simple and cost-effective ‘bottom-up’ manufacturing methods for the commercial-scale production of a wide variety of nanostructured product forms, including powders, foams and fully-consolidated, net shape nano-structured components. In this presentation, an overview is provided of the electroforming production method, as well as of some of the unique functional and structural properties possessed by these materials. Particular emphasis will be placed on current and near-term applications where this technology can provide significant environmental benefits such as (1) replacement of hard chromium electroplating, (2) elimination of toxic metals in electronic materials, (3) enhanced energy efficiency through the emergence of superior soft magnetic materials, (4) anti-bacterial products, etc. These environmental benefits are discussed in the light of potential risks to human health associated with the possibility of more widespread release of ultra-fine metal/ceramic particulate to the environment.
10:20 AM	Invited	TS-ThM-7 Designing More-sustainable Technologies through Green Chemistry and Nanoscience J.E. Hutchison (University of Oregon) Traditionally, materials design and utilization has been guided primarily by product/process performance and economic considerations. However, some of the materials used and manufactured today pose threats to human health, the environment, worker safety, and security. There is an increasing need for products and manufacturing processes that are measurably more sustainable than those currently available. Green chemistry and engineering principles can be adopted to guide the early stages of product and process development to meet this demand. Nanotechnology provides another important opportunity for the development of sustainable technologies. This is because nanotechnology (i) is in the early stages of development and (ii) it offers the promise of new material properties that can be tapped for innovation. In this presentation, I will discuss how green chemistry and engineering principles can guide the responsible development of nanotechnology and how nanoscience can enable the discovery of greener products and processes. Examples of greener materials, processes and applications developed through nanoscience will be presented.
11:00 AM	Invited	TS-ThM-9 Nanotechnology and Environmental Policy S. Davis (Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition) Nanotechnology and Environmental Policy: Nanotechnology refers to the ability to restructure materials at the atomic level. The term nanotech is broadly applied to today’s use of nanoparticles in cosmetics or industrial coating as well as the long term goal of molecular manufacturing, which is the use of self replicating nanoparticles to mass produce almost any type of products. Nanotechnology today bears similarities to the micro electronic industry of the 1970’s. Like the micro electronics industry, nanotechnology is touted as a clean industry and it is expected to solve problems in medicine, manufacturing, computer science and energy storage. Also reminiscent of the micro electronic industry of 30 years ago, the nanotech industry is largely unregulated. New products using nanomaterials are being introduced to the market without adequate environmental health or life-cycle assessment. Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC), a northern California nonprofit organization that researches and advocates on environmental issues associated with the high tech industry, is currently exploring environmental and public health issues associated with nanotechnology. SVTC is researching public policies and environment lessons learned from the micro electronic and biotechnology industries, to identify key environmental health regulatory issues for the emerging nanotechnology industry. SVTC proposes to present the preliminary research and findings on nanotechnology and environmental policy issues at the AVS in November. SVTC findings and a final report will be presented in the Winter of 2005 at a workshop hosted by SVTC for environmentalist, scientist, public health officials and lawmakers.