With the economic stimulus package, climate change policy, and renewable energy incentives at the top of President Obama’s agenda, a much less-well known statute should be added: reauthorization of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI).  Applied nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize the way that humans generate, store, transmit, use, and conserve energy, creating opportunities to maintain or increase productivity while reducing our carbon footprint.  Nanotechnology may also create new economic opportunities for the US economy, and bring jobs to hard-hit manufacturing sectors.  To do so, however, both public and private researchers must resolve lingering questions regarding how nanomaterials function in the environment and how we can commercialize these technologies without posing unreasonable risks to human health and the environment.   The NNI is an important tool for addressing these questions.

Nanotechnology involves the creation of useful chemicals, materials, devices, and systems using matter measuring between one and 100 nanometers in scale (by illustration, a carbon nanotube is 100,000 times thinner than a human hair).  Because of their small size, surface area, and structures, nanoscale substances and materials can possess novel physical, chemical, and electrical properties that make them very useful in a wide variety of applications.  Some of the application that show promise as tools in combating climate change include:

• Fuel additives: Nanomaterials can increase the fuel efficiency of diesel engines used in trucks and turbine engines used in airplanes;
• Insulation: Nanoscale aerogels and other nanomaterials offer promise as high-efficiency building insulations, reducing the energy demands (and carbon footprint) associated with heating and cooling in buildings;
• Photovoltaics: Nanomaterials can increase the efficiency of the systems used to convert solar energy into electricity, making solar electricity generation facilities more practical and economical;
• Batteries and electricity storage:   Nanomaterials can increase the storage capacity and efficiency of batteries and capacitors, which in turn would increase the performance and reliability of hybrid and electric cars, and improve electricity storage options for intermittent renewable generation facilities like wind and solar;
• Hydrogen fuel cells:  Nanomaterials can increase the efficiency of hydrogen-powered fuel cells, making low-emission hydrogen-fueled cars and trucks more viable as alternatives to traditional vehicles; and
• Electric transmission:  Bundled nanowires may provide opportunities to increase the efficiency, conductivity, and durability of the electricity grid, reducing congestion concerns and making a multifaceted transmission and distribution system, including renewable generation sources, more practical.

Despite nanotechnology’s promise, research is needed regarding identification and management of environment, health and safety risks.  The properties that make nanoparticles particularly valuable also create the potential for unique impacts on human health and the environment.  Recent reports by the General Accounting Office (1, 2) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) concluded that the federal government should direct more federal funding for hazard and risk assessment research.  Indeed, both the House and Senate introduced bills during 2008 to reauthorize the National Nanotechnology Initiative containing provisions putting a greater emphasis on federal research into environmental, health, and safety issues associated with nanomaterials.  While the House passed the bill in June 2008, the Senate bill failed to make it out of Committee.

Without dedicated and focused federal support for the NNI, both regulatory agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the regulated community are at a distinct disadvantage. Federal environmental laws provide federal authority to regulate the manufacture, use, and disposal of nanosubstances, but the research that comes out of the NNI ensures that the regulatory agencies have the information to set the appropriate safety standards.  Similarly, the research provided by the NNI helps guide costly research and development efforts by companies looking to bring new substances, materials, and products to market.  Without that research, even the most promising environmentally beneficial applications could wind up in regulatory gridlock.

The future of the NNI reauthorization bill in the current crowded legislative calendar is unclear.   What is clear is that without additional federal investments into the safe and economic commercialization of nanomaterials, it will be difficult for the U.S. to be a leader in the development and commercialization of applied nanotechnology.   That would be bad for the environment and the economy.

For further information about this topic, please contact Akin Gump.