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Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

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Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#141

Post by KorematsuFredt »

canadian_tired wrote: post #64

Wood is renewable when you can grow it, cut it up into useful shapes, then at the end of its useful life, compost it. As soon as you add a shit load of processing and plastic and other stuff it's not "wood" anymore than gasoline is a dead dinosaur. As for things like plywood that use glue for the laminations...glue is the most expensive and important part of the product. Not the wood so much. Replacing steel? I don't…

Why are people not considering just growing large trees to capture carbon cut down those trees and just coat them in plastic and throw them at the bottom of ocean/desert or some kind of storage where this carbon can stay trapped for thousands of years ? What am I missing ?

I think growing trees is better than just capturing CO2 directly as growing a large forest might have other advantages and a lot of wood can be used for normal human industry as well.

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#142

Post by noja »

canadian_tired wrote: post #64

Wood is renewable when you can grow it, cut it up into useful shapes, then at the end of its useful life, compost it. As soon as you add a shit load of processing and plastic and other stuff it's not "wood" anymore than gasoline is a dead dinosaur. As for things like plywood that use glue for the laminations...glue is the most expensive and important part of the product. Not the wood so much. Replacing steel? I don't…

All good points, but... https://www.plasticstoday.com/materials/sorry-folks-oil-does...

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#143

Post by westurner »

kfprt wrote: post #18
westurner wrote: post #14

From "Hemp Wood: A Comprehensive Guide" https://www.buildwithrise.com/stories/hempwood-the-sustainab... : > HempWood is priced competitively to similar cuts of black walnut. You can purchase 72" HempWood boards for between $13 and $40 as of the date of publishing. HempWood also sells carving blocks, cabinets, and kits to make your own table. Prices for table kits range from $175 to $300. Jul 5, 2021 […] > Is Hemp Woo…

I want to like hempwood but the price needs to come down. Hopefully it will as production increases.

What are the limits? Input costs, current economy of scale?

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#144

Post by Calloutman »

KorematsuFredt wrote: post #141
canadian_tired wrote: post #64

Wood is renewable when you can grow it, cut it up into useful shapes, then at the end of its useful life, compost it. As soon as you add a shit load of processing and plastic and other stuff it's not "wood" anymore than gasoline is a dead dinosaur. As for things like plywood that use glue for the laminations...glue is the most expensive and important part of the product. Not the wood so much. Replacing steel? I don't…

Why are people not considering just growing large trees to capture carbon cut down those trees and just coat them in plastic and throw them at the bottom of ocean/desert or some kind of storage where this carbon can stay trapped for thousands of years ? What am I missing ? I think growing trees is better than just capturing CO2 directly as growing a large forest might have other advantages and a lot of wood can be us…

Maybe because trees contain a lot of water/nutrients? Tbh I've always wondered what you've said too, though I'd just dump the wood in old mines etc.

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#145

Post by Calloutman »

Calloutman wrote: post #144
KorematsuFredt wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are people not considering just growing large trees to capture carbon cut down those trees and just coat them in plastic and throw them at the bottom of ocean/desert or some kind of storage where this carbon can stay trapped for thousands of years ? What am I missing ? I think growing trees is better than just capturing CO2 directly as growing a large forest might have other advantages and a lot of wood can be us…

Maybe because trees contain a lot of water/nutrients? Tbh I've always wondered what you've said too, though I'd just dump the wood in old mines etc.

I found this https://cbmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1750-0...

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#146

Post by Ma8ee »

KorematsuFredt wrote: post #141
canadian_tired wrote: post #64

Wood is renewable when you can grow it, cut it up into useful shapes, then at the end of its useful life, compost it. As soon as you add a shit load of processing and plastic and other stuff it's not "wood" anymore than gasoline is a dead dinosaur. As for things like plywood that use glue for the laminations...glue is the most expensive and important part of the product. Not the wood so much. Replacing steel? I don't…

Why are people not considering just growing large trees to capture carbon cut down those trees and just coat them in plastic and throw them at the bottom of ocean/desert or some kind of storage where this carbon can stay trapped for thousands of years ? What am I missing ? I think growing trees is better than just capturing CO2 directly as growing a large forest might have other advantages and a lot of wood can be us…

Or build houses and bridges and stuff with them instead of concrete.

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#147

Post by kfprt »

westurner wrote: post #143
kfprt wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to like hempwood but the price needs to come down. Hopefully it will as production increases.

What are the limits? Input costs, current economy of scale?

Scale, reportedly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qy6awPeric

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#148

Post by nl »

KorematsuFredt wrote: post #141
canadian_tired wrote: post #64

Wood is renewable when you can grow it, cut it up into useful shapes, then at the end of its useful life, compost it. As soon as you add a shit load of processing and plastic and other stuff it's not "wood" anymore than gasoline is a dead dinosaur. As for things like plywood that use glue for the laminations...glue is the most expensive and important part of the product. Not the wood so much. Replacing steel? I don't…

Why are people not considering just growing large trees to capture carbon cut down those trees and just coat them in plastic and throw them at the bottom of ocean/desert or some kind of storage where this carbon can stay trapped for thousands of years ? What am I missing ? I think growing trees is better than just capturing CO2 directly as growing a large forest might have other advantages and a lot of wood can be us…

Carbon capture using trees is very common. Most carbin offset programs fund this.

No need to drop it to the bottom of the ocean though. Just build something out of it.

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#149

Post by jessaustin »

clairity wrote: post #34
ethbr0 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A blocker to deployment would be getting building codes updated to permit use. From memory, wood was only approved for 3 story or less structures in most of the US. And building codes tend to be updated extremely slowly and conservatively.

from what i remember, it’s up to 6 stories in some parts of the country. i think it’s other aspects of the zoning and/or building code that tends to limit it to 3 stories—often podium style, with a concrete bunker foundation for cars with 3 stick-built stories on top. for the record, i dislike this style because it reserves the most valuable square footage—the ground floor—to cars. the cars should go underground, all…

Lake of the Ozarks was in the news last year for our aggressive disdain for covid precautions. The shoreline is occupied by many 4-, 5-, and 6-story stick-built condominium buildings. I've never heard of one falling over, but sometimes they do burn...

Re: Hardened wood as a renewable alternative to steel and plastic

#150

Post by korantu »

djrogers wrote: post #128
mywittyname wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wood also requires heavy equipment to cut, mill, process. Not to mention, it needs a heck of a lot of land area. In addition to whatever process is involved in "hardening" this wood. Plus, steel is entirely recyclable. And it has some natural properties that make is relatively easy to recycle. It can be sorted with magnets, and it has a higher melting point than most impurities.

The big advantage to wood though, is that while it's growing it's a carbon sink, and once hardened that carbon is likely stored forever.

you can achieve the same effect by making plastic with captured co2 [1]. Carbon would stay in plastic for very long time.

This way you get to reuse all the (enormous) existing infrastructure, as well.

[1] https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/9/5/759/pdf

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