The thing that makes plastic as a building material so useful is that it takes forever to degrade. Biodegradable building materials seems like it would be counterproductive and make the problem worse, not better.
So far, every time some new variety of biodegradable plastic comes along, it turns out to be a big fat lie.
Biodegradable just means you protect it just like we protect current biodegradable materials. But your #2 stands, the research is great but until I see it in production or on a shelf for sale, it’s just research.
The framing gets sealed and protected from moisture. It is not exposed to the outside. Exterior exposed wood is either pressure treated to resist rot, is a species that is naturally rot resistant, or it is painted.
Remember, the article is talking about altering wood to be both transparent and biodegradable. That sounds like a window to me. That is a role that is currently filled with either glass or plastic. You would not choose a biodegradable material for exterior use and most windows are used on the outside of a structure.
Exactly. Even pressure-treated wood gets pockmarked relatively quickly with nicks and scratches. It’s not visible on wood since it’s already so textured, but a transparent surface would be rendered opaque.
That aside, the whole article reads like AI slop. This paragraph is particularly obvious:
Instead of refilling the pores with epoxy, the team soaked the cellulose layer in a mixture of egg whites and rice extract. A curing agent called diethylenetriamine was also added to keep the atrial see-through. Importantly, the team says that the amounts of the various chemicals and reagents used in the process were small enough to present a danger to the environment. According to the team’s statement, they were “left with semi-transparent slices of wood that were durable and flexible.”
It’s just a collection of four sentences without any real unifying idea. And the latter two sentences are complete nonsense if you really read them.
Wood is biodegradable. But biodegradable doesn’t mean “constantly degrading.” Wood is good for centuries as long as it is kept dry. A great deal of building technique is about ensuring that, so you can use this light, strong material that literally grows on trees.
I’m skeptical of this for two reasons.
The thing that makes plastic as a building material so useful is that it takes forever to degrade. Biodegradable building materials seems like it would be counterproductive and make the problem worse, not better.
So far, every time some new variety of biodegradable plastic comes along, it turns out to be a big fat lie.
Biodegradable just means you protect it just like we protect current biodegradable materials. But your #2 stands, the research is great but until I see it in production or on a shelf for sale, it’s just research.
You realize we still use wood for most housing frames, right? Wood is biodegradable.
The framing gets sealed and protected from moisture. It is not exposed to the outside. Exterior exposed wood is either pressure treated to resist rot, is a species that is naturally rot resistant, or it is painted.
Remember, the article is talking about altering wood to be both transparent and biodegradable. That sounds like a window to me. That is a role that is currently filled with either glass or plastic. You would not choose a biodegradable material for exterior use and most windows are used on the outside of a structure.
Exactly. Even pressure-treated wood gets pockmarked relatively quickly with nicks and scratches. It’s not visible on wood since it’s already so textured, but a transparent surface would be rendered opaque.
That aside, the whole article reads like AI slop. This paragraph is particularly obvious:
It’s just a collection of four sentences without any real unifying idea. And the latter two sentences are complete nonsense if you really read them.
Wood is biodegradable. But biodegradable doesn’t mean “constantly degrading.” Wood is good for centuries as long as it is kept dry. A great deal of building technique is about ensuring that, so you can use this light, strong material that literally grows on trees.