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Has really no one made a âsuper woodâ joke yet?
On that note, something more relevant to the thread: Excess memes and âreply allâ emails are bad for climate, researcher warns | Greenhouse gas emissions | The Guardian
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That says excess. I believe I do just the right amount
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Or steer
Wood-Based Foam Promises To Revolutionize Building Materials with Adaptive Features
The project is called Archibiofoam, a collaboration between Finlandâs Aalto University, the University of Stuttgart and the University of Milan. It was recently awarded a 3.4 million euro European Innovation Council Pathfinder Grant, which the researchers say will result in Archibiofoamâs proof-of-concept: exterior building facades with porthole-like openings that open and close in response to the environment.
As Strong as Concrete, Minus the Emissions
Construction is the worldâs highest polluting industry by a longshot, accounting for roughly 40% of annual global emissions. So-called âbio foamsâ derived from extruded wood cellulose have the potential to revolutionise the industry, according to Aalto Universityâs Juha Koivisto.
âNot only will we show that wood-based foam can be used as a replacement material, but we will also demonstrate its unique ability to respond to environmental factors like heat and humidity to enable the passive heating and cooling of buildings -; an improvement on the carbon footprint of existing building infrastructures by several orders of magnitude,â Koivisto says.
If executed successfully, wood-based foams could replace typical non-renewable and resource-intensive building materials like concrete, steel, and glass. The bio foam has comparable strength to these materials, even though it is composed of 90% air, and it is biodegradable, therefore adhering to circular economy principles.
âThe scientific community has known for some time that the structural integrity of these bio foams is competitive with other construction materials, but it hasnât been tested to its full potential ,â says Koivisto. He is inspired by a vision of organic buildings reminiscent of GaudĂâs Barcelona, with ventilation chambers opening and closing naturally
It sounds like science fiction, but itâs real and exciting stuff. Our goal over the next three years is to prove this materialâs efficacy as a bona fide building material,â says Koivisto.
Koivistoâs local team includes Senior Lecturer Kirsi Peltonen and Postdoctoral Researcher Taneli Luotoniemi, both of whom come from Aaltoâs Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis. The Aalto team will coordinate the project and provide the overarching material technology.
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Misleading headline, but good that they are making the effort.
Considering they produce 1/3 of worldwide carbon emmisions, itâs only right that theyâre making more efforts to improve
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Itâs a daft way to compare renewables anyway as it doesnât take account of the size, resource or populations of the countries.
If you look in Europe, the leading nation is Albania which is all renewable electricity: I think completely hydro, which is great if you can do it.
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There are other statistics in the article which show the picture:
âElectricity generation from coal and gas dropped by 5% in China in July, year on yearâ
If they can achieve an annual reduction of 5%, it would be globally beneficial.
âLast month, solar and wind capacity outstripped Chinaâs coal-fired electricity capacity. By 2026, solar power alone will surpass coal as Chinaâs primary energy sourceâ
This is also good news for the environment worldwide.
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Itâs a good way to show scale though?
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Something to bear in mind for our overseas members who consume BBC content.
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Itâs sad that theyâre not just selling their reputation like this, but so cheaply.
Holy crapâŚCanadian forest fires in 2023 emitted more on their own than all but 3 countries; China, India, and the USA
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If you chop down all the trees then you wont get any more forest fires and youâll have addressed your carbon emission issue and reduced smoke pollution.
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you may well laugh, but i bet you someone will come up with an aparatus that replicates the trees role to play in the ecosystem (on only about 2 of 300 metrics) and us Humans will go to town carte blanche on natureâŚ
its only because we need it for something that we havent decimated nature completelyâŚ
imagine if we didnt need it for anything tangible and chopping down trees solved âthe cost of living crisisâ for the next four year cycleâŚ
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The typhoon currently crawling across Japan has been âsupercharged by climate changeâ according to some prof. from Imperial College London. "Without phasing out fossil fuels, the root cause of climate change, typhoons will bring even greater devastation to Japanâ, he said.
Apparently, the maximum wind speeds of this typhoon are estimated to be 7.5% more intense due to climate change. And another Prof., this one from Kyoto University, states that global warming has caused typhoons to âunleash more rainâ.
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