Revolutionary Nanotechnology Developments Part 2 - Innovations in Renewable Energy and Homeland Defe

NanotechnologyInvestment.com Reports: Revolutionary Nanotechnology Developments Part 2 - Innovations in Renewable Energy and Homeland Defense Attributable to Nanotech Nanotechnology developments spearheading new initiatives at Ford Motor Company and Boeing. Brian Eriksen Noer reports for www.NanotechnologyInvestment.com November 2005 In the second of a two part report NanotechnologyInvestment.com details the current advancements in the science of Nanotechnology, and specifically as those innovations impact diverse sectors such as Renewable Energy and Homeland Defense. The emerging science is being embraced by everyone from giant corporations like Ford and Boeing, to smaller manufacturing firms like solar energy technology developer XsunX (OTCBB: XSNX). To read the full text of Part 1 of this report, please click here: http://www.investorideas.com/Companies/Nanotechnology/Articles/Dr iving_Force_Behind.asp In part 2, further sector perspectives are revealed from industry participants: John Ginder, Acting Manager of the Physical and Environmental Sciences Department with Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F); John Belk, Nanotechnologist with Boeing; Tom Djokovich, CEO of solar technology developer XsunX, Inc. (OTCBB: XSNX); and NanoDynamics Inc. CEO, Keith Blakely. Government and Corporate Funding As nanotechnology redefines the landscape of many different industries, investors should be acutely aware of which companies and organizations are in receipt of government or private funding to drive their research and manufacturing activities. Corporate nanotech R&D expenditure in 2005 (exclusive of government funding) is expected to total $1.8 billion in the U.S., $1.1 billion in Japan, $296 million in Germany, and $213 million in South Korea. Earlier this year (January 2005) the Governor of New York, George Pataki announced that corporate commitments amounting to $2.7bn had been offered to New York State by 11 companies interested in semiconductor and nanotechnology research and development infrastructure. The companies who offered this funding included IBM, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, (chip equipment manufacturer) ASML and a consortium of nanoelectronics equipment suppliers. Following Pataki's announcement earlier in the year, in late September, IBM and Applied Materials Inc. launched their $300m partnership to develop new microchip technologies. The partnership would incorporate 80 researchers working at Albany Nanotech (a research facility affiliated with the State University of New York - funded both by the government and the private sector). The technologies developed by this partnership are expected to generate applications within the fields of blood testing; DNA sequencing; drug development and delivery; telecommunications; artificial intelligence software; and sensors for environmental, energy and defense applications. Also in late September the Canadian government announced that they would be funding $5.5m worth of research in India - an amount that will be matched by the Indian government. The project, part of Canada's International Science and Technology Partnership Program (formed to develop research alliances and to commercialize innovative technologies with India, China, Brazil and Israel) aims to focus on the areas of biotechnology; nanotechnology; information and communication technology; sustainable energy and disaster management. A technology like nanotech, which is anticipated to introduce widespread changes and developments will almost certainly also cause societal changes. The National Science Foundation has granted $6.2m to Arizona State University's Center for Nanotechnology in order to study and anticipate the societal, ethical, and unintended consequences these technological advances could have. The Center will also to study how societal demands will direct and dictate research efforts. The effects that will be studied include: privacy and security, human identity and enhancement, potential use of nanotech by terrorists, environmental and health risks, and societal and economic equity. Market Drivers NanoDynamics Inc. CEO, Keith Blakely believes that the prospects for incorporating nanotechnology and nanomaterials into industrial and consumer products, along with significant use of these materials in health care (from diagnostics and imaging to antimicrobial surfaces and drug delivery) and in energy applications, are significant. "The continued reliance upon oil - a finite resource for energy - will drive the research and applications of nanotechnology in batteries, thermoelectrics, photovoltaics, hydrogen storage, and fuel cells. Similarly, we believe that the need for clean water around the world will drive further investigation and utilization of nanotechnology based filtration, purification, remediation, and desalination processes and systems. And, of course, the incessant demand for improvements in personal health and well-being will provide adequate incentives to companies to develop improved materials and processes using nanotechnology for a broad range of health care applications." Solar Technology Developments Tom Djokovich, CEO of solar technology developer XsunX, Inc. (OTCBB: XSNX) agreed with Blakely that burgeoning global energy demands will help to drive nanotechnology development towards the field of renewable energy. "There are exciting new opportunities opening up in the solar energy markets for products that deliver performance characteristics such as increased conversion efficiencies, reduced costs per watt, flexibility of materials, light weight cell structures, the use of more readily available materials, and designs allowing the use of solar cells in common building materials to promote wide scale use of solar technologies," said Mr. Djokovich. "By manipulating materials at the nano scale level to deliver the necessary performance requirements we are helping to move the solar energy markets towards the next generation of product applications and costs savings." "The solar energy market is currently dominated by the use of crystalline wafers accounting for over 90% of the market," Djokovich continued. "Largely through enormous expenditures in manufacturing infrastructure of crystalline cells, costs have been reduced, but there is a shortage of available materials to fill the growth in demand and few if any further costs reducing opportunities may be available to this industry. The general market consensus is that only thin film technologies can provide the route to lower costs." "At XsunX we have focused on the development of new types of thin film technologies that provide performance characteristics to address cost reduction and application opportunities," said Mr. Djokovich. "Our Power Glass