Nano Architecture and Construction
The Choice is Yours biweekly column by Gregor Wolbring
March 30th 2008
With building construction and operation estimated to be a trillion dollar per year industry worldwide it is to be expected that nanomaterials and nanotechnology will play an increasing role in the construction industry. According to nanowerk “dozens of building materials incorporate nanotechnology, from self-cleaning windows to flexible solar panels to wi-fi blocking paint,” and “many more are in development, including self-healing concrete, materials to block ultraviolet and infrared radiation, smog-eating coatings and light-emitting walls and ceilings.”
Examples are, Carbonfiber, Energycoating, Heat absorbing windows, (Also for heat absorbing windows),and Nanocoatings, such as Nanoprotect Glass, Nanoprotect CS, Nano-Protex, Nanoseal Wood,and , Nanoprotect Metal. Also see INSULADD,® QuantumSpheres,and Nano aluminium powders.
Ultra Low Energy High Brightness Light (ULEHB) lighting will produce the same quality light as the best 100 watt light bulb, but using only a fraction of the energy and last many times longer.
Nanosensors which can monitor temperature, humidity, and airborne toxins, vibration, decay and other performance concerns in building components, from structural members to appliances, will be increasingly incorporated in the planning of building components, and many buildings and structures will be retrofitted with nanosensors. After the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, USA it is to be expected that bridges will be retrofitted with nanosensors and that new bridges will have nanosensors incorporated from the beginning. My smart dust column from 2007 described other nanosensor applications of which many will be also used in construction. Nanotech-enabled sensors are regular part of the Sensors Expo 2007 . In 2006, Applied Nanotech (ANI) presented carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide devices and a hydrogen sensor for power transformers, gated metal oxide sensors (GMOS), photo-acoustic sensing system (PAS), metal nanoparticle sensors (MNPS), and enzyme-coated carbon nanotube biosensors (ECNT).
George Elvin, Associate Professor in the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University, a fellow of the Center for Energy Research, Education and Service, and a Senior Research Associate at the Building Futures Institute and director of the Green technology forum a research and advising firm focusing on nanotechnology and biotechnology for growing green businesses covers the scientific and the social, ethical, legal and other issues linked to nonmaterial and nanotechnology employed in construction and architecture on various webpages, blogs and article such as here, here, here. Elvin just produced the report ($99) “Nanotechnology for Green Building,” which has up-to-date, comprehensive information on nanotechnology for green building. Inside the report one finds insights from exclusive Green Technology Forum interviews with leaders in the nanotech field and real time existing examples of how nanotech innovation save companies money and reduces their energy costs and their CO2 emissions. The 117-page report identifies 130 startups and established companies offering or developing nanomaterials for green building, 54 projects underway at universities and research centers, and 43 recent patents available for licensing, and includes over 250 citations and links to these resources.
Nanotechnology in Construction is a new Freedonia industry study that provides recent historical data and forecasts to 2011, 2016 and 2025 by product, application and market. It also presents information on industry participants, including companies, government agencies and laboratories, and universities with nanomaterial research and development activities. However its cost $4500. On Elvins smallplan smallplan blog one finds this diagram which highlights some relationship of nanotechnology to construction.
Researchers at the University of Surrey hope to achieve with solid state lighting devices using nano-composite materials that one can change the color of ones walls and ceilings to fit ones mood.
To just cite one smallplans blog mail
“Industrial
Nanotech
said in an announcement
today that the maker of Corona, the fourth most popular beer in the
world, is using Nansulate
High Heat
for thermal insulation and corrosion protection on an interchanger, a
common piece of industrial equipment found in the industry. And get
this: The interchanger showed a 20 degrees Centigrade (36 degrees
Fahrenheit) difference after a three coat application of Nansulate,
at a thickness of approximately 7 mils (seven one thousands of an
inch).
So let’s see, we’ve got fiberglass at R-19, rigid foam
at R-30, and now Nansulate at about what, R-1,000,000,000? Pretty
good stuff. They make paint
for buildings too.”
Nanotechnology is used for Bridge Protection especially using self-healing materials ((read more here). A news item on greentechforum.net which comes from the company nanosolar Nanosolar ships first commercial solar panels from Dec. 24th, 2007 states that nanosolar just shipped the world’s lowest-cost solar panel which nanosolar believes will make them the first solar manufacturer capable of profitably selling solar panels at as little as $.99/Watt. Many other interesting news and info items can be found on the Green Technology forum webpage.
A selection of the last few days in December show
Improving Electroactive polymers EAPs With carbon nanotubes CNTs (read more here)
GM
"Breakthrough" In Demonstrating Conventional Smart
Materials
Quantum
Dot LEDs
(read
More
here and in this Paper)
Lighting Alternatives Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, and the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Kolkata have developed a new class of white light phosphor that is based on doped semiconducting nanocrystals. Read More here and in this Paper
Polymer Solar Cells (Read More here)
Cheap
Solar: A Stellar Challenge
Makrolon
Polycarb
A high-tech polycarbonate (Read
More
here)
Biomimetic Anti-Reflective Material Eyed (Read More here and in this Paper)
Lance Hosey is featured in November 2003's archrecord2 and has previously contributed to In The Cause — "Food for thought ". Other interesting reads are Why the Future of Architecture Doesn’t Need Us by Lance Hosley and this one. Here something in German dealing with Nano and Architecture. And here another examples from Germany. Nanotechnology, architecture and future of the built environment can be found here.
Beyond the product
However the more nano products move towards reality the more one has to look as risk issues. Lab.3000, a “centre of excellence in design committed to building Victoria’s design capability and reputation across design professionals, creative industries, manufacturing and education hosted the event “Questions for the Future: Ethics, Nanotechnology and Design” at the Experimedia Center at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.
Nanowerk covered in a recent article Health and environmental risks of nanomaterial in architecture such as air filtration systems and other nanotechnologies to remove airborne contaminants, building cleaning products and coatings. The article states “However, Canada’s ETC group and other NGOs have called for the recall of nano-enhanced sunscreens. Should their fears prove justified, and absorption of nanoparticles become a concern, surfaces such as countertops, handrails, door pulls and cabinets could be likely sources of absorption. Nanoparticles may also enter the body if building water supplies are filtered through commercially available nanofilters. The release of nanoparticles into the environment may also be a concern. Airborne and waterborne particles from all of the sources described above may be introduced into the outdoors via building ventilation and wastewater systems.”
The societal risks covered in the nanowerk article deals with privacy issues and other issues I covered in my smart dust column from 2007
The Choice is Yours
Regulatory agencies such as the International Conference of Building Officials and the American Society for Testing and Materials will have to confront nanomaterials as other agencies I covered in other columns of mine. They also have to ensure proper testing and code definition for nanomaterials. However they won’t do it by themselves. So far the focus is more on the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency in the USA and related agencies in other countries. However nanomaterials impact many other agencies which also have to move on the issues. And they have to be pushed it seems to do so.
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Please contact the author for any information desired at gwolbrin@ucalgary.ca © Gregor Wolbring, All Rights Reserved, 2008. Please contact the author for permission to reprint. More columns can be found at Innovationwatch.
Gregor Wolbring is a biochemist, bioethicist, disability/vari-ability/ability studies scholar, and health policy and science and technology governance researcher at the University of Calgary. He is a member of the Center for Nanotechnology and Society at Arizona State University; Part Time Professor at Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada; Member CAC/ISO - Canadian Advisory Committees for the International Organization for Standardization section TC229 Nanotechnologies; Member of the editorial team for the Nanotechnology for Development portal of the Development Gateway Foundation; Chair of the Bioethics Taskforce of Disabled People's International; and former Member of the Executive of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (2003-2007 maximum terms served). He publishes the Bioethics, Culture and Disability website and authors a weblog on NBICS and its social implications.