You may have heard that the future lies with nanotechnology - the manufacture of materials and machines on a microscopic scale - but wonder how this relates to a sustainable future. This month, leading U.S. scientists will explore just that at the annual American Chemical Society meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. As part of a new GreenNano initiative, they will present environmentally-friendly applications of nanotechnology manufacturing processes and explore how nanotech can be used to heal environmental damage.

Nanomaterials could, for instance, be used to lower the cost and improve the efficiency of solar panels and fuel cells. Nanosphere sensors could be used to ferret out toxic materials in aquatic environments. "Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things usually between 1 and 100 nanometers," according to Azonano.com. That is almost unthinkably miniscule when you consider that a human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide.

"Green nanotechnology isn't a distant ‘Star Trek' fantasy," according to GreenNano symposium director Dr. Barbara Karn. "Key nanotechnology companies and researchers are taking responsibility to ensure that nanotech products are produced in environmentally safe ways and that their risks to humans and the environment are minimized both during the production and consumption." This is no small concern, given that the global marketplace for nanotechnology will reach $1 trillion and employ 2 million workers within a decade, according to the National Science Foundation.

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