National Security will not be the only thing in jeopardy if the ACES bill dies on the Senate floor in September. Along side it will also be job creation and technological innovation, both of which have acted jointly with defense in the past to insulate and sustain US global supremacy.

With a strapped military and a weakened economy, the only card left to the US eminence is its ability to be a technical pioneer. A Global Technology Information report for the World Economic Forum highlights that despite the recession the US has remained a world leader in IT growth. While this growth is predicted to continue, it is also forecasted to trend from information based technology to science based technology.

Nanotechnology, a prime illustration of this trend, has transcended into thousands of applications and has become the driving force behind recent gains in energy, environmental, and efficiency applications.

Nanotech and job creation

According to a report conducted by Lux Research, nanotech is slated to be a 3.1 trillion dollar industry by 2015. With the perpetual outsourcing of IT and depression of the auto industry, the 2 million jobs expected to spawn from nanotech in the next 6 years alone will work to recuperate the vast majority of engineering and manufacturing jobs recently lost.

The presence of powerhouse business leagues, such as the NanoBusiness Alliance, will help foster clean energy job growth by promoting collaboration between business executives and senior political officials. Meanwhile, large capital projects such as The Nanotechnology World Headquarters (currently under construction in Houston, TX) will promote clean technologies and advance economic recovery, resulting in 30,000 local jobs within the several years.

While job creation in nanotech is promising, many still question the viability and cost to implement the technology.

The cost-effective technology is here

Similar to DNA, the applications resulting from nanotech are endless, but the energy sector will enjoy the majority of its applications. Industry-specific applications currently underway range from the way in which energy is captured and stored to mitigating the affects of climate change and strengthening our defense agility.

A corporate superpower that understands the need to marry energy and climate change challenges with nanotech solutions is Lockheed Martin, which recently partnered with Rice University in effort to address implementation of energy-specific nanotech applications. As a result, it has developed a savoir-faire portfolio, which has qualified it as top green power purchaser by the EPA.

Okay, so we know the technologies are here, but are these technologies gainful enough to be commercially viable? Absolutely. An example of this is seen in solar, one of the most capable, but expensive renewable energies. Vanguard Solar, Inc has recently developed an application that effectively uses carbon nanotube technology to create a solar film that can be applied to residential and commercial buildings, cutting substantial costs once attributed to older expensive methods of solar manufacturing and implementation.

This leads us to the next question. If the technology is here and is cost-effective then why is the US lacking larger scale implementation? The answer-pending legislation.

Legislation to renew security

With the Aces bill allocating $190 billion towards renewable energy technology and efficiency measures, one can easily see how its demise will also kill millions of jobs and stifle nanotechnology innovation.

The bill also establishes:

• A Clean Energy Deployment Administration that will stimulate private investments into the energy sector through direct loans, guarantees, and various other financial mechanisms.
• A Renewable Energy Standard, which will prompt a market signal and launch innovation from neutral to commercial overdrive.
• More advanced grid systems that are highly efficient and less vulnerable to enemy attack.

We already know the national security consequences of climate change and our dependence on foreign sources of oil, but what about the security perils we face if we lose our ability to leverage technology, economic investment and job creation?

One ponders what the US position will be like China becomes the ultimate green super power, securing more manufacturing jobs and leaving the US behind not only to plead with them to continue purchasing our debt, but also to supply us with their clean technologies? What will happen to US military supremacy, if our access to oil is disrupted and we are left with a fleet of advanced military machines that are immobile as a result? And, what will happen to the US economy if we fail to bolster employment rates and innovate our way out of the current economic quagmire?

This bill is not just about curbing emission and creating a cap & trade, rather it equally serves in securing a resurrected job market and in maintaining the US place card as a global leader in technological innovation. It provides America a renewed security for the 21^st century-or for better word-a Re-Nano-Able security.

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