Nashville Technology Council

The Nashville Tech Story (9/4/2009)

As technology continues to get smarter, faster and even smaller, it always seems that somewhere in the discussion falls nanotechnology.  Researchers are working to reduce the size of computer systems, while making them more reliable and environmentally friendly.  If successful, computer systems would be equipped with data storage that would be completely stable and would require the use of less energy.  How is this possible?

“Spintronics,” is a new technology that is being researched that exploits magnetic ’spin’ properties of individual molecules or atoms and electronic charges.  Combine “spintronics” with nanotechnology and a solution called molecular “nanospintronics” comes to light, which is currently being investigated by researchers.

The initial goal of “spintronic” technology starts out small, with the shrinking of computer systems, but this development has far more potential.  Created through a collaboration between London’s Centre for Nanotechnology and two of the top universities in China, Peking University and Tsinghua University, “spintronics” has begun to take a place in the environmental and wireless communications markets. 

On the wireless communications front, researchers are using “spintronics” to make it possible to develop technology more rapidly and commercialize new wireless communication technologies.  They have also implemented “spintronics” into the environmental discussion with the goal of developing a cleaner fossil fuel program.  This would create multifunctional nanostructures that would capture carbon dioxide and harmful pollutants in coal fire power stations.

The Nashville Tech Story (8/27/2009)

Last month, the Willis Tower in Chicago, known as the center of renovation, caused shockwaves throughout the world with the announcement to “go green.”

Being the tallest building in the United States, the skyscraper formerly known as the Sears Tower, is a national icon. With these renovations they are working to show how a few changes can save natural resources.  Estimates put the project at approximately $350 million dollars and will include the following changes:

• Installation of solar panels to heat water used in the building.
• Efficiency improvements to the building exterior and windows, reducing energy use by 50%.
• Implementation of fuel cell technologies that will generate electricity, heating, and cooling.
• Elevators will be modernized to reduce energy consumption.
• Plumbing upgrades to restrooms and recovery systems for condensations, which could save almost 24 million gallons of water per year.
• A lighting control system will be added that recognizes the amount of sunlight in a room and dims the lighting accordingly.
• Wind turbines will be placed on the 90th floor to create an efficient energy source.  
• A “green” area will be developed to include plants that can survive high-altitudes and they will be used as a test to see if they can reduce storm water runoff and help with the urban heat island effect.

The upgrades will reduce energy use by 80%, which averages out to 68,000,000 kWh per year or the comparable of 50,000 barrels of crude oil. The updates are in progress and due for completion in four short years.

Other icons that have become more economically friendly include the Empire State Building, and coming soon, Nashville’s newest skyline addition, the Pinnacle at Symphony Place.  Due to be completed by November of this year, the Pinnacle will be the first downtown building to gain the LEED Silver Certification, which is a national standard measuring a building’s environmental friendliness. 

With the Pinnacle building making a strong statement locally with its environmentally conscious design and the statistical advantages shown by the current improvements being done on the Willis Tower, the hope is that others will follow in their footsteps.  The costs of creating of more environmentally friendly buildings can be relatively high in the short term, but the long term financial savings and the reduced strain on the environment are well worth the investment.

Nashville Technology Council member companies Pinnacle Financial and Bass, Berry and Sims PLC will be two of the most highly recognized companies to take up residence in one of Nashville’s first environmentally friendly masterpieces. 

For more information on the Pinnacle at Symphony Place, click here.

The Nashville Tech Story (7/2/2009)

With fuel prices rising each year, inventors are continually trying to find alternative fuels and fuel sources. Ethanol is the most talked about fuel source and is already being incorporated into the current fuel mixtures.   Vegetable oil was another option and some environmentalists have also gone as far as to take the leftover vegetable oil from Asian restaurants.  One of the obvious sources is coal, but production would be expensive and could be harmful to the environment.  However, a source that many of us have never heard of is the use of algae.

Algae BioFuel placed in a closed water system, may be the best alternative we have available to us.  There are two means of algae production that are heading to mass production.  A closed water system that is fed by the sun and CO2 coming out of smoke stacks, such as those at power plants. Or an open water system that relies solely on the sun and requires large acreage farms to house the open ponds. Creating Algae BioFuels using a closed water system would require less acreage, zero food crops and zero mining to produce.

There are plenty of power plants worldwide with smoke stacks able to feed the Algae that can be converted into BioFuel.  If we want to improve the air and make a difference in the environment, then converting algae to BioFuel looks to be the best alternative.