Coast Entrepreneur advises world experts on sustainable energy

Coast Entrepreneur advises world experts on sustainable energy

Sunshine Coast entrepreneur and scientist Dr Geoff Edwards has just returned from EnviroAsia 2009, the fourth International Environmental Technologies Exhibition and Conference where he advised world experts about the future of nanotechnology in the Clean Technology industry.

Dr Edwards, managing director of Nano-Nouvelle, was one of several experts fromaround the world invited to speak at the Sustainable Energy Conference at EnviroAsia2009 in Singapore.

He told the conference that there was great potential for the use of nanotechnology inthe clean energy sector, where it had already made a significant impact with solar cellsand batteries.

"For clean energy to be widely adopted it is vital that it be affordable andnanotechnology developments and further research is key to achieving this."

Dr Edwards said there had been significant development of manufacturing methods inthe semi-conductor industry, which together with academic research had greatlyexpanded the range of nano-scale features that could be created, the range of materialsthey could be created in, and the number of legitimate large-scale production methodsthat could be used.

"This is exciting news for the clean energy industry. Nanotechnology can potentiallyhave an impact in any area of clean energy where the performance of a material issignificant," he said.

He said just a few of the applications that could benefit in the future includedthermoelectric materials, solar cells and hydrogen storage as well as air and watertreatment.

Nano-Nouvelle, which is a client of the Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast, is developinga nano-structured semiconductor, in the form of a thin film, to efficiently convert variousforms of energy into electricity.

Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast Entrepreneur-in-Residence Nigel Hall said DrEdward's presentation in Singapore was evidence of his expertise in the area, andtestament to the technology he was developing, which had great potential across arange of applications.

Dr Edwards said while their development was at an early stage, potential applications in clean energywere very large.

"The key to widespread use of clean energy," as he told the conference, "is provision of that energy at aprice that is competitive with fossil fuels. Our technology aims to assist this".

"The recent explosion in nanotechnology is exciting as it is providing new ways to manipulate thestructure of materials at the nanometre scale (one nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter) and at atime when sustainable energy is crucial, the clean energy sector can benefit from this," he said.Mr Hall said as a University of the Sunshine Coast company, dedicated to the development of theregion's economy, the Innovation Centre was proud to be playing a part in Nano-Nouvelle'sdevelopment.

"Developing this kind of new technology locally shows the depth of talent in the region, talent that drivesthe development of sectors such as Clean Technology, Digital and Creative Industries," Mr Hall said.Dr Edwards said the use of nanotechnology in the clean energy sector had to be part of a well-planned,focused strategy for development and manufacturing of the whole product.

"The costbenefit ratio is critical and manufacturing scale-up is a major issue for nanotechnology inachieving favourable ratios.

"Industry must be prepared to fund and undertake serious research and development in order to realisethe potential that exists in this field,"he said.

Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast Entrepreneur-in-Residence Nigel Hall
www.innovation-centre.com.au