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It sounds cool, but then this: > a composite made mostly from cellulose nanocrystals mixed with a bit of synthetic polymer So it still contains non-degradable
by TedShiller 5y ago
It sounds cool, but then this:
> a composite made mostly from cellulose nanocrystals mixed with a bit of synthetic polymer
So it still contains non-degradable plastic, just less plastic than before.
There have been a spate of such articles recently, where "less plastic" is pitched as "no plastic".
I'm not saying it's bad, but it's not as good as it appears.
- ainiriand 5y agoThe subtitle effectively says 'new plastics'. I don't think it is trying to pitch 'no plastic'.
- ehnto 5y agoWe don't know which polymer it is, nor how or what it's synthesized from. PLA is synthesized for example, just not from petrochemicals.
- willcipriano 5y agoBeing non-biodegradable is a pretty important feature for anything that has to interact with the elements. A house constructed out of truly biodegradable materials would be a disaster.
- kibwen 5y agoWell, FSVO "disaster". Wood is biodegradable, and a house made entirely out of wood (say a log cabin) might last only 50 years, but that's plenty of time on human scales of habitability.
- throwaway17_17 5y agoIn actual, no context terms I agree that a home Meade from wood doesn’t biodegrade fast enough on human scales. However, Infeel like the externals associated with the cultural concepts, particular in ‘the west’, around real property and houses as investments (either for rent or for future descendents) make this statement not accurate in a practical way. So, I don’t think it stands as an argument against excluding non-biodegradable materials in construction projects.
- RamblingCTO 5y agoEuropean half-timbered houses are out of what then? They're still standing strong, being around 700 years old. Or how about the stairway in Hallstatt? Or the wooden house Kirkjubøargarður? Is wood not truly biodegradable? I think I know what you might mean, but it's not as black and white as you make it to be.
- cute_boi 5y agoWood are certainly biodegradable, and some takes a long time to degrade. Afaik many wood houses use paintings or coatings to protect from nature (at least where I live). So, I wonder if it applies to European half-timbered house.
- RamblingCTO 5y agoAgreed. But you can also smoke the wood a bit, helps with the weather. Also the interconnectedness is something that helps I think. Because you reduce the surface.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- willcipriano 5y agoI would expect something that was biodegradable to biodegrade in less than 700 years. If you have that sort of time, plastics are sort of biodegradable as well.
- RamblingCTO 5y agoAre you listening to yourself? Are you really trying to say that wood is not biodegradable? Lolwut
- singlow 5y agoBeing biodegradable doesn't mean that it will degrade in any circumstances. Lumber in a house is usually protected from many biological degradation agents, even if it is not chemically treated. If you took that same wood and threw it in a pile exposed to rain and bugs, it would be gone in less than 100 years.
- Centigonal 5y agoAll biodegradable materials don't degrade the same in every condition. For example, both cedar timber and romaine lettuce are biodegradable, but you wouldn't coat your exterior walls in romaine lettuce. But if I buried both in humid soil and waited 10 years before digging them back up, I'd likely see no sign of either. Most plastics are not biodegradable. They don't degrade in any condition. If I buried a fidget spinner and waited 10, 100, or 1,000 years, It'd still likely find most of a fidget spinner when I dug it up.