07 Mar Nanotechnology and Sustainability in the Canary Islands
“As a natural environment, the Canary Islands offer an advantage for nanotechnology and sustainability research and investigation”.
Since the Neolithic period, our civilization has developed technologies used to manufacture materials and products that help us improve our nutrition and health and expand the capacity of our transportation systems, the services offered in our cities, etc.
Nevertheless, in the 1970s, environmental groups, citizens’ associations, scientists, and politicians began to realize that the way our society was growing was having an impact on our ecosystems, leading to a loss of biodiversity.
Many foresaw that, if we continued along that path, the effects on the planet would ultimately have devastating consequences on our world. In our eagerness to attain the highest possible level of development, we were depleting our planet’s resources at an ever-higher rate.
What does nanotechnology have to do with all this?
Nanotechnology is, by its very nature, cross-sectional and multi-disciplinary. It provides practical solutions to different sectors of the economy, including the health care, energy, automotive, space, food, cosmetics, safety, and agricultural industries, among others.
Nanotechnology research and investigation can help us create molecular materials, technological devices, and nanotechnology techniques to help evaluate and protect the health of our planet.
With this in mind, and applying nanotechnology and sustainability, the environment could recover at the same pace that it is currently being affected by human activity. This would help prevent a shortage of natural resources, many of which are non-renewable.
Nanotec: Nanotechnology and Sustainability in Tenerife
As a natural environment, the Canary Islands offer an advantage for nanotechnology and sustainability research and investigation.
The islands can serve as a pilot project for many other purposes, which would not only help build the economy but would also make it possible to acquire know-how and experience and export them to other territories with similar characteristics.
Nanotec is the is the headquarters of technological centers of Nanotechnology and Sustainability research in the Canary Islands which are concentrated in a single area spanning nearly 5,000 square meters.
The wide-range of sustainability-related projects being carried out at the Nanotec Technology Center, in INtech La Laguna include:
- Water treatment
- Use of renewable energies
- Plant species development and optimization
- Rational use of natural agricultural resources
- Climate investigation
- Intervention in the desertification process.