It is broadly recognized that a whole new approach, a fine-grained science, is necessary to accelerate the transition from reliance on fossil fuel energy sources to wholesale adoption of sustainable energy systems. Existing technologies are simply not sophisticated enough to propel our global dependence on oil and coal into a renewable energy era, a necessary leap to stem and reverse the degradation of the earth’s fragile environment.

“It is immoral not to be working on this problem,” said Mark A. Ratner, Morrison professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University and this week’s Pinhead Town Talk presenter, in a recent interview.

The hottest field in science, everything nano, is emerging as the most promising field for solving the world’s energy problems. Nanotechnologies are already beginning to improve the efficiency of extraction, distribution and consumption of fossil fuels, and reduce their harmful byproducts. But that is not enough. Breakthrough nanoscience is needed to reshape how we gather, store, and transmit energy.

Conferences that marry the two fields in the search for better, faster solutions are budding. A NanoEnergy conference is being held in Paris in October 2008. Later this month, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter will give the keynote address at the Nano Renewable Energy Summit in Denver. The “glowing future for nano in energy” was the topic of the Nanotech 2006 conference in Boston.

From 6-7:15 p.m., Tuesday, professor Mark Ratner, will present “Energy and Nanoscience: A Marriage of Convenience,” at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village. Admission is free and there will be a cash bar. The science series is co-produced by Pinhead Institute and the Telluride Science Research Center (TSRC) and sponsored by the Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association (TMVOA). Donations are welcome.

“The exciting thing for me is that this is not just a problem for the United States, or for China, or for Europe. It is a problem for humanity,” Ratner said. “The air shed is the air shed. It is all connected. This problem is beyond national borders.”

Ratner is credited with starting the field of molecular electronics (nanotechnology) in 1974 when he published a paper proposing that single molecules might behave similarly to electronic device components or wires and switches in electrical circuits and could be used to process and store information. He is still a super star in nanoscience. He and his son have written “the book” on nanoscience. Ratner is a member of the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the Feynman Award in Nanotechnology in 2001. He earned both the Visionary Pioneer Award by Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and the Langmuir Award given by the American Chemical Society in 2004.

“Our country’s appetite for ‘what we need’ is very high,” he said. “There are 6.3 billion people on the planet. India and China are using more and more energy and we have to provide this energy. But it has to be sustainable. The issue has social, economic and conservation aspects to it. And the issue has science and technological aspects to it by its very nature.”

Ratner notes that there are four main approaches that will scale to solve the world’s energy crisis. Conservation and its flip side carbon sequestration, which he once dismissed as infeasible but not longer does, are necessary steps. Nuclear power would scale, he says, “but people don’t seem to like nuclear as the answer. There are tremendous safety and disposal risks. Will it make a real imprint to solving this problem? I don’t think so.” Wind power, Ratner says,  “is the closest of the four to delivering energy at a necessary scale but it has problems. The upside to wind power is that the technology is so simple, but it is not necessarily gentle to the environment. The down side is the unaesthetic impact it has on the environment, noise pollution, and harm the turbines do to birds.”

Solar is what really excites Ratner, “Solar power must involve nanoscience and nanotechnology. Light comes from the sun in 5-nanometer structures. Nature already uses it to harness energy. Look at photosynthesis. Plants gets energy from the sun using complex nanostructures, but they are very inefficient because they have lots of other things to do, like reproduce.” The future of solar power, says Ratner, lies in printing (like phamphlets) photovoltaic processes cheaply and minutely.  
 
“Suppose you had the perfect source of energy, located at the North Pole, or Denver for that matter,” Ratner posited as a scientist looking to the sun as the primary energy solution. “Would that solve the energy problems of the world? No, you have to know how to store and deliver that energy. The problem is not simply the source.” The scientific and technological problems extend well beyond capturing the perfect energy.
Ratner and his lab at Northwestern University, along with their colleagues around the world are working to clear the hurdles of gathering, storing and distributing solar power efficiently.

Ratner’s talk is the sixth annual TSRC Berry Lecture, a tradition founded to honor one of TSRC founders, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at University of Chicago R. Stephen Berry, who will be in attendance at the Talk along with TSRC president, Boston University professor of Chemistry John Straub and President Elect Pittsburgh professor of Chemistry, Kenneth Jordan.

For more information about the next Pinhead Town Talk, “Energy and Nanoscience: A marriage of convenience,” call TSRC executive director Nana Naisbitt at 970-708-0004.