Plasma sources and processes for nanomaterial synthesis and reactive species production

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Other thinkers have written before that “waste is material at the wrong place” and that “waste is a resource”. According to recent global statistics, more than 50% of the energy we extract from primary sources is wasted in the various transformation and storage steps, leaving less than 50% in use. The situation is even worst for materials, with more that 70% of the primary materials being wasted after a first use. We now fully realize that the planet's primary resources are finite and that the anthropogenic waste that accumulates in the soil, oceans and atmosphere has negative, widepsread and lasting impacts. These observations make us realize that we do not use primary resources efficiently and do not value waste. From the elemental standpoint, “waste” is made up of the same chemical elements as the materials we value (i.e. materials we use daily and want in our backyard) but that happens to be in the wrong molecular arrangement or place. The transition to a sustainable use of resources requires a system’s thinking that features the use of renewable energy and materials, as well as efficient and closed-loop processing at all scales.