Nanotechnology: little technology with a big environmental impact?

Nanotechnology: little technology, big environmental impact?


Tiny technology. Nanotechnology. We all know it as the future of engineering - microscopic parts that can execute gigantic functions. The formal definition of nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension from 1-100 nanometers. The potential of nanotechnology for innovation in the future has led countries like the USA and Japan to invest billions of dollars into research. Scientists have found ways to use nanotechnology in a variety of fields, such as organic chemistry and medicine. But like a lot of fields, there’s something that most of us have never considered - how does it affect the environment? The technology itself is small, but how big are its impacts?


Water quality is a huge issue around the world, with 15% of the human population unable to access clean, drinkable water. But nanotechnology offers a solution for the problem. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), nanoparticles of zero valent iron (ZVI), silver nanoparticles, zinc oxide (ZnO), and titanium dioxide (TiO2), tungsten oxide, serve as photocatalysts. Photocatalysts can oxidize organic pollutants into harmless material. This technology has huge potential to further solve the problem of water quality. Another nanotechnology that can be utilized to clean water is called nanofiltration. Nanofabric paper towels have been developed that can absorb up to twenty times their weight in oil, which has potential to clean our oceans and decrease the effects of oil spills.


But what are their negative consequences? Well, right now, we don't really know the negative impact. The National Science Foundation has been testing the toxicity of manufacturing nanotechnology and the recyclability and overall sustainability of nanotechnology. The US government has commissioned scientific research looking closer into the negative impacts of nanotechnology, such as the pollution its manufacturing causes and the effect of it in landfills or otherwise. But while its environmental implications are relatively unknown because of nanotechnology’s novelty, nanotechnology has already proven itself to be a huge opportunity for the world to solve its water quality issue.


Do you think that nanotechnology should be used widely, even though we don't know its negative environmental impact?

How do you think nanotechnology should be applied in the future?

To what extent does human benefit outweigh environmental impact?


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Comments

Anonymous said…
I agree with the fact that nanotechnology holds a great amount of potential for benefitting the environment despite its unknown negative consequences. For example, nanotechnology has the potential to reduce the extent of air pollution by clearing up VOCs in the air through a catalyst composed of porous manganese oxide, which would be embedded with gold nanoparticles, that would break down VOCs at air temperature. Furthermore, nanotechnology can improve the efficiency of renewable energy sources through not only wind energy as epoxy containing carbon nanotubes can make stronger, lower weight, and greater electricity producing windmill blades, but silicon nanowire can also be embedded within a polymer to yield a low cost and highly efficient solar cells. Nanotechnology holds the potential to make renewable energy sources such as solar cells and wind energy as cost effective as coal or oil while also increasing their efficiency as a fuel source. Finally, nanotechnology has the potential to reduce pollution in industrial setting such as his silver nano clusters can be utilized as catalysts to reduce the polluting byproducts that are formed during the manufacturing of propylene oxide, which is used to make materials like plastics. In general, nanotechnology has a great potential to aid in reducing the harmful anthropogenic impacts upon the environment, but a lot more research needs to be conducted in regards to the potential consequences (Source: http://www.understandingnano.com/environmental-nanotechnology.html).
April 18, 2019 at 4:11 PM
Anonymous said…
I think that we should wait for further testing until we decide to have widespread use of nanotechnology. On many occasions humans have made the mistake of using something that was not thoroughly tested and they did not know the complete effects of, like asbestos. When people learned that asbestos was a good fire retardant they began incorporating it into many things, homes, ceilings, and even children’s clothing only to find out later that it can cause lung cancer. To avoid a similar disaster I think humans should be cautious of how they proceed with using nanotechnology, taking it one step at a time.
April 18, 2019 at 11:13 PM
Anonymous said…
Nano-tech has been seen t have applications almost everywhere. However we need to make sure that we take the highest amount of precautions when doing this. However we should explore this tech to a good extent as it would allow humanity to o better and could be the next big thing. One can see that this potential is already being explore extensively as seen with organizations such as the US National Nanotechnology Initiative.
April 19, 2019 at 10:13 PM
Anonymous said…
The recent improvements in nanotechnology fields is very exciting because it seems it maybe a solution to many worldwide issues. For example, nanotechnology robots are currently being tested, which will be able to detect specific cancer cells and target these cells with medication. This way, they can be extremely precise and avoid damaging any healthy tissue. This is one of the main benefits of nanotechnology, even in fields besides medicine, because it is small enough to stay in its lane. It can be trained to do numerous things without any unintended negative implications elsewhere. There obviously should be more testing for topics such as oil spill cleanup and water purification, but afterwards this could be a potential aid to numerous fields.
April 20, 2019 at 11:06 AM
Anonymous said…
The future of nanotechnology has been a subject of many scientific and nonscientific speculations, including several doomsday visions in popular culture that predicted self-replicating nano particles taking part in massive assaults on humanity and the environment. Nanotechnology can help tackle climate change. The fight against climate change means we need new ways to generate and use electricity, and nanotechnology is already playing a role. It has helped create batteries that can store more energy for electric cars and has enabled solar panels to convert more sunlight into electricity. In the future, nanotechnology could also enable objects to harvest energy from their environment. New nano-materials and concepts are currently being developed that show potential for producing energy from movement, light, variations in temperature, glucose and other sources with high conversion efficiency. All in all, I think the development of nanotechnology can potentially largely benefit the future of the human race and its existence on this earth.
April 20, 2019 at 10:49 PM
Anonymous said…
Many of the new technologies we are developing have unintended consequences. When technologies or utilities are made, their consequences aren’t discovered for years or even decades until the issues are harming us directly. This can lead to the deterioration of the environment to a level that can’t be fixed. We are suffering now for the innovations created centuries ago and this could end up being a cycle that ruins the Earth. I think that nanotechnology does have immense benefits that could actually save the world from dehydration and hunger but I also believe that this has to go through further testing and the consequences and benefits need to be weighed before this technology is used worldwide.
April 21, 2019 at 9:52 PM
Mahir Vohra said…
Although nanotechnology is highly praised as innovative and environmentally-friendly, I think we should take the time and effort to investigate how it may negatively impact the environment. There are plenty of times that the United States has replaced a pollutant with something equally as harmful to the environment, but they have done so blindly. In the long run, by just flipping the switch 180 degrees, we do more harm than good because we don't give ourselves and the environment time to get acquainted to the changes.
April 23, 2019 at 7:06 AM
Anonymous said…
Although nanotechnology is extremely innovative and is a means to make appliances much smaller, it is also important to realize that studying the effects of it is not enough to simply incorporate in into all aspects of our lives. They may have unintended unforeseen long term consequences. I think the safer bet would be to start using them but only in a few appliances for a few years until it can be confirmed that the long term consequences, if any, are not dire.
April 23, 2019 at 8:55 AM
Anonymous said…
Even though the benefits of nanotechnology appear wide-reaching and beneficial, I do not believe we should begin heavily relying on this technology without understanding its full impact. In the past, we have often devoted our resources to a seemingly beneficial product without understanding its effects. Therefore, we should not repeat the actions of the past and proceed cautiously when it comes to nanotechnology. When it comes to the future, I do not know how nanotechnology should be applied. It all depends on if nanotechnology is as environmentally-friendly as we hope. When it comes to today, our environmental impact should always outweigh human benefit as climate change and global warming continue to threaten our existence on Earth. In general, I would suggest that we tread carefully when it comes to nanotechnology.
April 23, 2019 at 9:03 AM
Anonymous said…
It is certain that nanotechnology has brought innovation to the human race now and will be in the future. However, the environmental impacts should not be ignored. We must understand the environmental effects of any new technology before we should mass produce it. In the past, humans do this constantly. For example, the burning of fossil fuels damaged the environment, but humans realized how much energy it could produce, so the environmental damage does not matter to them. This mindset should not continue in the near future, so we should be careful with what we produce.
April 24, 2019 at 8:16 AM
Abby Jung said…
I think that the benefits of nanotech is superb. The amount of change it can bring in saving our ecosystems and just improving quality of life in general for earth's inhabitants is exponential. Though the benefits are large, the consequences and negative byproducts ought not be ignored. While nanotechnology may look appetizing at first blush, its consequences in the later day may be too far to be reverse-able.

-Abby Jung
April 24, 2019 at 12:25 PM
Anonymous said…
I don’t think we should we should rely heavily on nanotechnology being unaware of its consequences. However, it’s benefits cannot be overlooked. Nanotechnology offers the potential for new and faster kinds of computers, more efficient power sources and life-saving medical treatments. Potential disadvantages include economic disruption and possible threats to security, privacy, health, and the environment.
April 25, 2019 at 6:35 AM
Anonymous said…
Nanotechnology definitely has many benefits that could be applied to many of the technology today. But I think that we really need to consider its consequences before we dive into using this technology. Yes, it would be very efficient for many different fields like the computer science and medical, but there are drawbacks. In the past, we have heavily relied on resources that had a substantially negative impact on the environment. When we started using those sources, we didn’t fully understand its consequences and was blinded by the sight of modernizing the industries. We don’t want to repeat the past by emitting immense amounts of carbon dioxide and altering the environment. So although I find it appealing, we should find out more about this nanotechnology before using it.
April 25, 2019 at 1:17 PM
Mallory Odom said…
I think it's important to find ways to use newly developed technology to help out the environment. Nanotechnology clearly has a lot of benefits and could be very effecient. However, throughout history we have cause a lot of damage to our Earth by not being aware of all the side effects of technology, so If we look to nanotechnology as a major resource in our future, we need to make sure we completely understand how to safely use it.
April 25, 2019 at 3:06 PM
Anonymous said…
Nanotechnology is something very new and can have lots of applications. I did not know that you can apply it to help the environment. This post was very informative and taught me lots of new things.
April 25, 2019 at 3:48 PM
Anonymous said…
Technology is used in almost all aspects of life, so it is important to use newly developed technology in the effort to help the environment. However, we need to assess the pros and cons of nanotechnology before we fully implement them on a large scale. A heavy reliance on a technology so new can lead to many disastrous issues.
April 25, 2019 at 6:23 PM
J No said…
In hindsight, nanotechnology seems to have limitless benefits and should be seriously considered accordingly in order to better the future. Nanotechnology could make an astronomical difference in the world and could create huge advancements in technology. However, technology should be proven to be 100% safe to use and any negative impacts should raise many red flags. We need to be wary when implementing technology that we don't have information on and all precautions should be made in order to ensure that it is truly beneficial to the environment.
April 25, 2019 at 6:41 PM
Anonymous said…
Nanotechnology is a truly amazing invention. It has the potential to provide so many benefits. However. the technology should be tested to make sure it is safe. What if nanotechnology actually has drastic consequences? It could turn out to be just like cigarettes. Everyone loved them to begin within until they knew how harmful they were. If it is proven safe however, it can serve many purposes in the near future.
April 25, 2019 at 7:38 PM
Anonymous said…
Using new technology for issues around the world is a very smart idea, but being unaware of the consequences is risky. I think that this is a great piece if technology to start using, but we shouldn’t rely on it because of the unknown factors. More research should be conducted before we start to rely on this. But after investigating it and fixing anything negative aspects it can really help all over the world.
April 25, 2019 at 7:50 PM
Jibran Khalil said…
Before diving into a new technology, it's important to define the process of its creation so as to minimize damage. Before nanotechnology is produced at a large scale and causes irreversible damage to the environment, it is important for governmental regulations to be put in place and for the the technology to be extensively researched. The implications of this technology, however, are immense as they allow doctors, engineers, computer scientists, and many other fields to benefit their pursuit of both research and application. Overall, the technology is tantalizing but needs to be heavily researched before widely adapted.
April 25, 2019 at 7:56 PM
Unknown said…
Before reading up on this article, I had no idea that nanotechnology could be utilized in such ways. I think the ability to help the environment is a great power, but it also come with great responsibility. With so many unknown variables in the usage of our small friends, I believe we should maybe hold off on the plan just temporarily until we really know the ins and outs of this technology. However, I am hopeful for he future and the utilizing of nanobots to help the environment and us.
April 25, 2019 at 9:51 PM
Anonymous said…
Nanotechnology is such a cool and helpful invention, however it’s consequences can bring concern. Not knowing what potentkonal consequences could be is risky and I think further research needs to take place before we dive into this new invention. If proven to be safe and beneficial though, why not go for it.
April 25, 2019 at 10:37 PM
Anonymous said…
Nanotechnology is a revolutionary field of technology that is very new to the market. When it comes to the environment, its pros are nearly limitless as we do more and more research. But before all this, we need to understand the true effects of nanotechnology on nature. Such small cons of the technology may seem minuscule but as they add up the negatives could surmount the positives. Nanotechnology seems like a step in the correct direction but we really need more research done on its effects before we put it into large scale use.
April 26, 2019 at 1:12 AM
Anonymous said…
With the huge trouble things such as micro plastics have been causing sea life and even humans, I am not optimistic about nanotechnology’s environmental impact. I feel as if nanotechnology could cause more harm than good in an ecosystem like the ocean. However, I do not know enough about this technology to think of tests that could stop any envrionmental hazards before nanotechnology truly takes off.
April 26, 2019 at 8:00 AM
Anonymous said…
While using nanotechnology seems like a very effective and clean measure to help communities reach drinking water globally, I believe it is important that thorough testing is done before it is used for any drinking water. If there are unknown health hazards that are not found before this nanotechnology is used for communities to find clean drinking water, it could have detrimental effects globally.
-Adam Ghanem
April 26, 2019 at 8:22 PM
Unknown said…
Although this technology can have large impacts on the environment it is still important to weigh the benefits and the detriments. Compared to a lot of today's manufacturing that involves a large amount of metal such as copper to be mined, smaller chips could provide an alternative to the process and decrease the impact on the environment.
April 28, 2019 at 8:17 PM
Anonymous said…
Before nanotechnology is applied in large areas of industry and other purposes, the environmental impacts should be discovered and carefully researched. If they have an extremely negative impact, that should be discovered prior to their use. Otherwise will just be hurting our planet. I do believe that if they have little impact on the environment, they should be used. This isn’t an uncommon issue. Many new technologies have undiscovered consequences that are either hidden or ignored.
April 29, 2019 at 8:53 AM
Anonymous said…
Nanotechnology should be extensively studied to anticipate any possible environmental impact before enacting its widespread use. Should any negative aspects of nanotechnology be discovered, actions must be taken to lessen or eliminate these aspects. Although nanotechnology seems to be hyper efficient and be the technology of the future, we must exercise caution prior to overusing it.
April 30, 2019 at 11:42 AM
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