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Can nanotechnology ever prove that it is green?

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages 71–72 (2007)Cite this article

Nanotechnology offers the promise of better solar cells and cleaner drinking water, but there are many practical obstacles to be overcome before nanotechnology can benefit the developing world, as Richard Jones explains.

The reason for this is not a sudden outbreak of harmony between environmental groups and the multinationals that are most likely to bring nanotechnology to market in a big way. Instead, it is a measure of the force of the argument that nanotechnology may lead to new opportunities for sustainable development. Even the most vocal outright opponent of nanotechnology — the ETC group in Canada — has recently conceded that nanotechnology might have a role to play in the developing world. Is nanotechnology really going to be the first new technology that big business and the environmental movement can unite behind, or is this the most successful example yet of a greenwash from global technoscience?

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  1. Richard Jones is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield. r.a.l.jones@sheffield.ac.uk,

    Richard Jones

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Jones, R. Can nanotechnology ever prove that it is green?. Nature Nanotech 2, 71–72 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.12

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