Transparent wood

[Dave2002]

This procedure for making wood transparent seems to have potential - https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/scie...ass-1.5902739?

[Bryn]

This procedure for making wood transparent seems to have potential - https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/scie...ass-1.5902739?

Very interesting, for sure, but are we not supposed to be planting more trees to increase their overall mass and thus Carbon capture properties, rather than cutting them down to replace the sand used to make glass? Scaling up to an industrial-scale will need careful environmental management.

[Cockney Sparrow]

39 Ways to Save the Planet – BBC R4
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qy43

“Trees soak up carbon dioxide, trees store carbon dioxide. So why not build with wood instead of concrete and steel? The usual reason is strength, but Dr Michael Ramage at Cambridge University has what he thinks is the answer- cross-laminated timber. It's strong enough to build a skyscraper and replaces lots of that carbon from conventional building. Tom Heap and Dr Tamsin Edwards take a look at the global possibilities of cities built of wood”

(The programme asserts timber for this use is a renewable resource).

Tangentially (reducing CO2 emissions, potentially):
The Times - Sunday February 21 2021,

“Coffee grounds and old tyres could soon be used to make eco-friendly steel…
”…….Professor Veena Sahajwalla, of the University of NSWales, Sydney will present her ideas to the Royal Society as part of the Commonwealth Science Festival - London tomorrow."

Behind its paywall:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c...teel-3lq7r3hlc

[french frank]

39 Ways to Save the Planet – BBC R4
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000qy43

The main difficulty for those minded to plant 'billions of trees' (as per the clams of vying political parties at the time of a recent election) is finding places which can be devoted to reasonably-sized tree plantations. These have to be in the 'right' places. If manufacturing transparent wood could be made more lucrative than cattle ranches, the Amazon basin might be attractive.

[Serial_Apologist]

The main difficulty for those minded to plant 'billions of trees' (as per the clams of vying political parties at the time of a recent election) is finding places which can be devoted to reasonably-sized tree plantations. These have to be in the 'right' places. If manufacturing transparent wood could be made more lucrative than cattle ranches, the Amazon basin might be attractive.

Preserving is more important than planting, because it is the mature ecosystems that rot down to create conditions for re-growth and older trees, most especially native varieties, which harbour restorative levels of biodiversity new plantations would only be ready to reproduce after decades of ecological succession.

[oddoneout]

The main difficulty for those minded to plant 'billions of trees' (as per the clams of vying political parties at the time of a recent election) is finding places which can be devoted to reasonably-sized tree plantations. These have to be in the 'right' places. If manufacturing transparent wood could be made more lucrative than cattle ranches, the Amazon basin might be attractive.

Not really if it just replaces one monoculture with another, albeit longer term one? The soils of the Amazon Basin are not fertile to begin with(all the fertility is in the decomposition layer on top which very quickly disappears once the native plant cover is removed) and having been wrecked by industrial agriculture trying to establish any form of tree plantation would be very difficult. Not impossible but would need a great deal of care and in depth knowledge, and acceptance of the limitations imposed by the tropical ecosystems.

[french frank]

Preserving is more important than planting, because it is the mature ecosystems that rot down to create conditions for re-growth and older trees

Of course, but as Bolsonaro seems intent on clearing it he performs a double environmental disservice: getting rid of the trees and providing space for even more methane (? is this the gas) producing ruminants. I just, daydreaming, thought an alternative source of revenue might at least get rid of the cattle

[groovydavidii]

Planting millions of trees for another ‘right place’ eco purpose: The African Great Green Wall Project – planting millions of trees to hold back Sahara Desert incursion/desertification of the Sahel and surrounding North African nations, has been discussed for several years (lots of data on available), so far unfortunately, nothing significant happening.

[Dave2002]

Of course, but as Bolsonaro seems intent on clearing it he performs a double environmental disservice: getting rid of the trees and providing space for even more methane (? is this the gas) producing ruminants. I just, daydreaming, thought an alternative source of revenue might at least get rid of the cattle

Trees are usually quite good at sequestering CO2, but if they fall down and rot in water, the methane which is produced is significant. Whether that is worse than a cow or two I don’t know. I think that one tree converting to methane does a lot more damage to offset the benefits of its carbon capture. I assume a herd would be much worse than one tree.

I agree that politicians like Bolsonaro should not be encouraging habitat depletion, though if there was a lower “demand” for meat products then perhaps this would be less likely. Consumers in other countries, including ours, have a lot to answer for.

[french frank]

I assume a herd would be much worse than one tree.

I think you can assume that. I read somewhere that ruminant animals contribute as much to global warming globally as transport, though alternative researchers dispute this. But methane is 23-30 times more powerful than CO2 so differences are hard to quantify in terms of damage.

I agree that politicians like Bolsonaro should not be encouraging habitat depletion, though if there was a lower “demand” for meat products then perhaps this would be less likely. Consumers in other countries, including ours, have a lot to answer for.

Yes, but try to wean "people" (I point no finger) off their T-bone steaks - big enough to feed a family for a week, demolished in one meal by one person. But to make a difference to the planet it's the huge projects that are needed, like the one aforementioned.

[Anastasius]

Preserving is more important than planting, because it is the mature ecosystems that rot down to create conditions for re-growth and older trees, most especially native varieties, which harbour restorative levels of biodiversity new plantations would only be ready to reproduce after decades of ecological succession.

+100. Excellently put.

[oddoneout]

I think you can assume that. I read somewhere that ruminant animals contribute as much to global warming globally as transport, though alternative researchers dispute this. But methane is 23-30 times more powerful than CO2 so differences are hard to quantify in terms of damage.

Work is ongoing... https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...-cow-emissions

[french frank]

Work is ongoing... https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...-cow-emissions

A better bet than getting "people" to give up - or even cut down significantly on - their beef consumption. But that won't stop the clearing of the Amazon basin for cattle ranching. Beef is money.

Some way from the original topic. Transparent glass may have many useful functions, but lacks some aesthetic aspects of 'real' wood.

[Dave2002]

Referring back to the original article, it is interesting, but mention is made of a 1 mm thick piece of wood. That's hardly likely to be very strong. I suspect that the process would have to be "upped" to maybe 1cm to get sufficient strength for many applications, and that might reduce the transparency of the material further. It could still be useful in some applcations, but it's probably not likely to replace glass in the short or even medium to longer term.

Perhaps it's going to be filed away as an interesting curiosity, along with another one which is using iron powder as fuel - which is being used in one trial. See https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise...e-co2free-fuel

[oddoneout]

This may be one of those cases where scientists doing what scientists do, given half a chance, namely trying out different ideas and "what if"s, produce results which may not have an immediate application but which can at some future date be picked up and worked on, when materials and processes have advanced to make use of the original idea.
Something which I think receives far too little attention is making better use of the wood resources we do have, whether that be new or old wood (ie pre-used). Far too much is at best burnt( with the increasing use of bio-mass boilers creating a market), or in too many cases dumped in landfill. I hate seeing what is discarded in the wood skip rather than being repurposed - old furniture with good quality wood, not available these days in many cases. Building sites throw away ply shuttering and surplus materials rather than make them available for others to use. The development of laminated structural timber is a move in the right direction as it can use timber that isn't suitable for other uses such as beams or floorboards.