FEW: Workshop to Identify Opportunities and Challenges for Nanotechnology to Optimize and Unify Food, Energy and Water Systems

随着全球对食品、水和能源的需求不断增加，美国迫切需要找到可持续的解决方案，同时实现能源、水和粮食安全。农业约占全球淡水使用量的70%，占能源消耗量的10%。因此，农业生态系统处于能源-水-粮食关系的核心，系统水平的绩效改进提供了实现能源、水和粮食安全的最大机会之一。纳米科学和工程的最新进展提供了前所未有的机会来减少食品生产的能源和水的投入，并为减少农业的环境足迹提供具有成本效益的、节水和节能的技术。PIS建议在宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡召开一个由美国农业部、纳米技术和农化行业的教职员工、学生和研究人员组成的多学科小组，在宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡举行为期两天的研讨会，以确定纳米技术最有希望的突破性机会，以提高食品-水-能源关系的可持续性，并确定实现这些好处必须克服的最紧迫的科学、工程和社会挑战。纳米技术现在提供了前所未有的能力来清洁和循环利用水和废水，利用太阳能，创造新型微型化学传感器和集成传感器网络，改善食品保存，并提供有针对性的杀虫剂和营养物质输送。这些进展可以为数据驱动的精准农业提供所需的工具，可以大幅提高资源利用率，并可以降低粮食生产的环境足迹。然而，实现这一目标需要更好地理解食物、水、能源和社会之间的复杂关系。这一开创性的研讨会将汇集来自包括食品-能源-水关系的一系列研究领域的顶尖科学家和工程师，以确定纳米技术改善整体农业生态系统性能的最有希望的机会，并确定目前阻碍纳米技术在食品生产中广泛应用的科学和工程挑战。PIS将在研讨会期间应用伪名义分组技术，制定食品-能源-水关系中最有希望出现的纳米技术机会的优先列表，并详细说明这些机会应如何指导研究工作，以满足未来五到十年最关键的研究需求和潜在影响。这一研讨会经验将促进不同参与者之间围绕在粮食-能源-水关系中实施纳米技术以实现可持续解决方案的最紧迫的科学障碍进行对话，同时也利用对无数经济、基础设施和社会限制的理解，这些限制也界定了粮食-能源-水关系中的挑战和潜在机会的边界。

1541807LowryWith ever increasing global demands for food, water, and energy, there is a critical need in the U.S. to identify sustainable solutions for simultaneously achieving energy, water, and food security. Agriculture accounts for approximately 70 % of all freshwater use, and 10 % of energy consumption, globally. Therefore, the agroecosystem lies at the heart of the energy-water-food nexus, and systems-level improvements in performance offers one of the greatest opportunities towards energy, water, and food security. Recent advances in nanoscale science and engineering offer unprecedented opportunity to reduce the energy and water inputs for food production, and to provide cost-effective, water and energy conservative technologies for reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture.The PIs propose to convene a multidisciplinary group of faculty, students, and researchers from the USDA and the nanotechnology and agrochemical industries in a 2-day workshop in Pittsburgh, PA to identify the most promising groundbreaking opportunities for nanotechnology to increase sustainability at the food-water-energy nexus, and to identify the most pressing scientific, engineering, and social challenges that must be overcome to realize those benefits. Nanotechnology now offers unprecedented capabilities to clean and recycle water and wastewater, harness solar energy, create novel miniaturized chemical sensors and integrated sensor networks, improve food preservation, and provide targeted delivery of pesticides and nutrients. These advances can provide the tools needed for data-driven precision agriculture, can substantially improve resource utilization, and can lower the environmental footprint of food production. However, realizing this goal will require improved understanding of the complex relationships between food, water, energy, and society. This pioneering workshop will bring together leading scientists and engineers from a range of research fields comprising the food-energy-water nexus to identify the most promising opportunities for nanotechnologies to improve overall agroecosystem performance, and to identify the scientific and engineering challenges currently inhibiting widespread applications of nanotechnology in food production. The PIs will apply the pseudo-nominal group technique during the workshop to develop a prioritized list of the most promising emerging opportunities for nanotechnology at the food-energy-water nexus, and to elaborate on how these opportunities should direct research efforts toward the most critical research needs, and potential impacts, in the next five to ten years. This workshop experience will foster dialogue among diverse participants around the most pressing scientific obstacles to implementing nanotechnology for sustainable solutions at the food-energy-water nexus, while also drawing on understanding of the myriad economic, infrastructural, and social constraints that also define the boundaries of both challenges and potential opportunities for within the food-energy-water nexus