Title: Nanotechnology
1Nanotechnology the Key to Keeping Houston the
Energy Capital of the World
Houston Technology Center University of
Houston June 15, 2004
Wade Adams and Rick Smalley Rice University
2World Energy
Millions of Barrels per Day (Oil Equivalent)
300 200 100 0
1860 1900 1940
1980 2020 2060
2100
Source John F. Bookout (President of Shell USA)
,Two Centuries of Fossil Fuel Energy
International Geological Congress, Washington DC
July 10,1985. Episodes, vol 12, 257-262 (1989).
3A Much Better Use for Oil than Gasoline!
Professor Mark Foster and Family (Univ. of Akron
Polymer Science Department) with all their
oil-based polymer belongings! -- Nat. Geog. June
2004
4The ENERGY REVOLUTION (The Terawatt Challenge)
14 Terawatts 210 M BOE/day
30 -- 60 Terawatts 450 900 MBOE/day
The Basis of Prosperity 20st Century OIL
21st Century ??
5PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCESAlternatives to Oil
- TOO LITTLE
- Conservation / Efficiency -- not enough
- Hydroelectric -- not enough
- Biomass -- not enough
- Wind -- not enough
- Wave Tide -- not enough
-
- CHEMICAL
- Natural Gas -- sequestration?, cost?
- Clean Coal -- sequestration?, cost?
- NUCLEAR
- Nuclear Fission -- radioactive waste?,
terrorism?, cost? - Nuclear Fusion -- too difficult?, cost?
- Geothermal HDR -- cost ? , enough?
- Solar terrestrial -- cost ?
- Solar power satellites -- cost ?
- Lunar Solar Power -- cost ?
6- The biggest single challenge for the next few
decades - ENERGY
- for 1010 people
- . At MINIMUM we need 10 Terawatts (150 M
BOE/day) - from some new clean energy source
by 2050 - For worldwide energy prosperity and peace we
need it to be cheap. - We simply can not do this with current
technology. - We need Boys and Girls to enter Physical
Science and Engineering as they did after
Sputnik. - Inspire in them a sense of MISSION
- ( BE A SCIENTIST SAVE THE WORLD )
- We need a bold new APOLLO PROGRAM
- to find the NEW ENERGY TECHNOLOGY
7165,000 TW of sunlight hit the earth every day
8Solar Cell Land Area Requirements
6 Boxes at 3.3 TW Each 20 TWe
9Energy Nanotech Grand Challengesfrom Meeting at
Rice University May 2003
- Photovoltaics -- drop cost by 100 fold.
- Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methanol.
- Direct photoconversion of light water to
produce H2. - Fuel cells -- drop the cost by 10-100x low
temp start. - Batteries and supercapacitors -- improve by
10-100x for automotive and distributed generation
applications. - H2 storage -- light weight materials for
pressure tanks and LH2 vessels, and/or a new
light weight, easily reversible hydrogen
chemisorption system - Power cables (superconductors, or quantum
conductors) with which to rewire the electrical
transmission grid, and enable continental, and
even worldwide electrical energy transport and
also to replace aluminum and copper wires
essentially everywhere -- particularly in the
windings of electric motors and generators
(especially good if we can eliminate eddy current
losses).
10Energy Nanotech Grand Challenges
- Nanoelectronics to revolutionize computers,
sensors and devices. - Nanoelectronics based Robotics with AI to enable
construction maintenance of solar structures in
space and on the moon and to enable nuclear
reactor maintenance and fuel reprocessing. - Super-strong, light weight materials to drop cost
to LEO, GEO, and later the moon by gt 100 x, to
enable huge but low cost light harvesting
structures in space and to improve efficiency of
cars, planes, etc. - Thermochemical processes with catalysts to
generate H2 from water that work efficiently at
temperatures lower than 900 C. - Nanotech lighting to replace incandescent and
fluorescent lights - NanoMaterials/ coatings that will enable vastly
lower the cost of deep drilling, to enable HDR
(hot dry rock) geothermal heat mining. - CO2 mineralization schemes that can work on a
vast scale, hopefully starting from basalt and
having no waste streams.
11One World Energy Schemefor 30-60TW in 2050The
Distributed Store-Gen Grid
- Energy transported as electrical energy over
wire, rather than by transport of mass (coal,
oil, gas) - Vast electrical power grid on continental scale
interconnecting 100 million asynchronous
local storage and generation sites, entire
system continually innovated by free enterprise - Local house, block, community, business,
town, - Local storage batteries, flywheels, hydrogen,
etc. - Local generation reverse of local storage
local solar and geo - Local buy low, sell high to electrical power
grid - Local optimization of days of storage capacity,
quality of local power - Electrical grid does not need to be very
reliable, but it will be robust - Mass Primary Power input to grid via HV DC
transmission lines from existing plants plus
remote (up to 2000 mile) sources on TW scale,
including vast solar farms in deserts, wind,
NIMBY nuclear, clean coal, stranded gas, wave,
hydro, space-based solarEVERYBODY PLAYS - Hydrogen is transportation fuel
12CarbonNanotechnologyLaboratoryMaking
BuckytubesBe All They Can Be
- Founded Mid-2003 as a division of CNST
- Focuses SWNT Research of 10 Faculty in 6
Departments - Prof. Richard E. Smalley - DirectorDr. Howard K.
Schmidt - Executive DirectorDr. Robert H. Hauge
- Technology Director
13Why Buckytubes?
MOLECULAR PERFECTION EXTREME PERFORMANCE
- The Strongest Fiber Possible.
- Electrical Conductivity of Copper.
- Carrier Mobility Surpasses InSb GaAs.
- Thermal Conductivity of Diamond.
- The Unique Chemistry of Carbon.
- The Scale and Perfection of DNA The Fullerene
Ideal - The Ultimately Versatile Engineering Material
14CNL The Armchair Quantum Wire
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF COPPER 1/6th THE
WEIGHT NEGLIGIBLE EDDY CURRENT LOSS
15New Energy Research Program(The Nickel Dime
Solution)
- For FY04-FY09 collect 5 cents from every gallon
of oil product - Invest the resultant gt 10 Billion per year
as additional funding in frontier energy research
distributed among DOE, NSF, NIST, NASA, and
DoD. - For the next 10 years collect 10 cents from every
gallon - invest the gt20 Billion per year in frontier
energy research. - Devote a third of this money to New Energy
Research Centers - located adjacent to major US Research
Universities, especially Zip Code 77005. - At worst this endeavor will create a cornucopia
of new technologies and new industries. - At best, we will solve the energy problem before
2020, - and thereby lay the basis for energy
prosperity peace worldwide.
16Texas/Houston Frontier Research Fund
- Financed off a 5 cent per gallon gas tax
- 1 billion per year across Texas, 200
million in Houston!! - To fund Texas research at the frontiers of
science - Over 20 years makes Texas/Houston the premier
generator of new high tech industries in Energy,
Health, and Information -
- Smalley Texas Academy of Science proposal
17By 2010, if current trends continue, over 90 of
all physical scientists and engineers in the
world will be Asians working in Asia.
18Summary and What Can We Do?
- World energy landscape will change dramatically
over next 10-50 years - Houston is the leader now (but will it last 10
years?) - Technology will surely enable the changes
- Leadership of the future energy economy is now up
for grabs - US Energy Policy is focused on Oil, Gas
Hydrogen - Oil Gas Energy Industry invests the lowest of
any industry in RD - Asia seems to be investing heavily for the long
term in research and people - Houston is poised to either lose or win the
energy leadership race - Nanotechnology is the key technology for future
energy
19What Can Houston Do?
- Demonstrate political leadership
- Direct investment toward future technologies
- Expand the research development infrastructure
of the area - Link business to technology (HTC, HARC, Rice,
UH..) - Fund public/private partnerships
- Provide innovative business climate (tax,
incentives) - Support initiatives such as the Texas Energy
Center, Texas Nanotechnology Initiative, TARANES - Support and Host Energy Technology Meetings
e.g. at Rice October 15-17, 2004
20Nano in Energy II - Solar
- Scope -- Policy, the State of the Solar
- Industry, Nanotech in Solar Energy
- October 15-17, 2004 at the Baker Institute
- 50 technology experts will lay out the
possibilities and a path forward - Sponsored by the Rice University Baker Institute
for Public Policy, Center for Nanoscale Science
and Technology, the Shell Center for
Sustainability, and the Environmental and Energy
Systems Institute - Co-Sponsored by the Houston Technology Center and
the Innovation Alliance (PCAST)
21Texas Advanced Research Alliance for
Nanostructured Energy Systems
Prof. Richard Smalley
Prof. Alex Ignatiev
The energy technologies prevalent twenty to
fifty years from now will be based on novel
materials and systems enabled by advanced
nanotechnology research today. Developing this
New Oil will require teamwork and effort not
seen since the days of Apollo. - Rick
Smalley
Prof. Alan MacDiarmid
TARANES Big Energy Starting Small
22BE A SCIENTIST -- SAVE THE WORLD