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Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

peopleofcolorintech.com

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Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#161

Post by 411111111111111 »

peoplefromibiza wrote: post #155
mellavora wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, noting the "powered with renewables" aspect. and keeping in mind that any 1 ton plus vehicle is going to take substantial energy to move around (vs, say, an ebike).

> take substantial energy to move around (vs, say, an ebike). e-bikes are an alternative to cars the same way wheelbarrows are an alternative to trucks. they are different means of transportation, for different purposes. I don't own a car and I try to use cars as less as possible, but every time I need to use one, an e-bike would be useless. When an e-bike could be useful, I can walk or use public transports.

> they are different means of transportation, for different purposes.

Most people I know mainly use their car to get to work and back home. This is a need that could likely be fulfilled by an E-Bike just as well, unless the route is unreasonably long.

so while the initial statement is true, the conclusion you drew from it is false -- at least from the perspective of society.

Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#163

Post by RobertoG »

peoplefromibiza wrote: post #155
mellavora wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, noting the "powered with renewables" aspect. and keeping in mind that any 1 ton plus vehicle is going to take substantial energy to move around (vs, say, an ebike).

> take substantial energy to move around (vs, say, an ebike). e-bikes are an alternative to cars the same way wheelbarrows are an alternative to trucks. they are different means of transportation, for different purposes. I don't own a car and I try to use cars as less as possible, but every time I need to use one, an e-bike would be useless. When an e-bike could be useful, I can walk or use public transports.

That's true, but it seems to me that, in many circumstances, people are using a truck when all they need is a wheelbarrow.

Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#164

Post by t_mann »

astatine wrote: post #70

Mixing plastics with asphalt has been tried for roads in India for many years now. There is one stretch near where I live which was done 10+ years ago. There is an official policy on trying this, as a pilot, for any agency that wishes to use it. See: https://www.prakati.in/use-of-plastic-for-road-construction-... The road which I use occasionally seems reasonably good as roads go. Unless you see the boards informing…

I believed that was actually common practice already, especially near crossings, in order to make the asphalt more elastic, so that it bends under the weight of a standing car and then goes back to its old shape.

Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#165

Post by peoplefromibiza »

411111111111111 wrote: post #161
peoplefromibiza wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> take substantial energy to move around (vs, say, an ebike). e-bikes are an alternative to cars the same way wheelbarrows are an alternative to trucks. they are different means of transportation, for different purposes. I don't own a car and I try to use cars as less as possible, but every time I need to use one, an e-bike would be useless. When an e-bike could be useful, I can walk or use public transports.

> they are different means of transportation, for different purposes. Most people I know mainly use their car to get to work and back home. This is a need that could likely be fulfilled by an E-Bike just as well, unless the route is unreasonably long. so while the initial statement is true, the conclusion you drew from it is false -- at least from the perspective of society.

> Most people I know mainly use their car to get to work and back home

Anecdotal evidence is no evidence.

Cars and bikes are complementary, not alternatives.

Most people I know mainly use their car to get to work and back home too, they travel 100 kms a day on an highway from one side to the other of the city.

If they had to go by bike, they had to be pro bikers, which they are very far from. Even if they took the road through the city, which is shorter, they would have to climb a few steep hills (you know, Rome it's not flat like Amsterdam and it's huge).

Starting from now there'll be 35-40 degrees celsius in Rome until august, not really the best climate to bike, also considering that arriving all sweaty at work and having to shower and change is not exactly what "most people" want do or can do.

They could, however, use the public transport.

That would solve the issue.

Bike would not.

> the conclusion you drew from it is false -- at least from the perspective of society.

Show me the proof that on average what you say it's true and I'll consider it.

In my country average commute time is 30 minutes, only in Milan, 1.5 million residents, the subway moves 400 million passengers/year.

Also in Italy there are around 10 thousand electric scooter on rental, in the past two years there have been already 2.000 incidents, mostly self inflicted.

Put those 400 million passengers / year on bikes and the next month ER rooms will look like the COVID 19 period.

To convince them to bike for 30 minutes under heavy rain, or scorching sun or uphiil, it would mean forcing them.

Cities are already bikeable, but most people prefer not to, because biking is not the best way to move for many people.

If they wanted to do it, they already would.

I think if you speak about society, bikers are some of the worst offender of common spaces, if you'll ever come to Milan I'll show you why that's the case.

One example above all: they protested for the bike lane, the city made the bike lane, they are not using it because they "don't like it" and now they bike on the sidewalk.

And they also think they have the right to.

At that point it's far too easy to prefer car drivers, at least they don't drive where it's clearly signaled that the space is pedestrians only.

Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#166

Post by sackerhews »

balls187 wrote: post #102
PKop wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't approve of a "Whites in tech" blog so why be so self righteous about this?

> You wouldn't approve of a "Whites in tech" blog so why be so self righteous about this? You mean all the other blogs? It's safe to assume you also rail against the practice of "Wellness Rooms" being exclusively for use by nursing mothers...

> You mean all the other blogs? Do you mean all blogs that don't state skin colors in the domain/name are done by white people? That's one of the more racist and demeaning comments I've seen here.

Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#167

Post by adamhp »

dgb23 wrote: post #157
hh3k0 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's where my mind went first, too. We don't need more plastic in our lives, quite the opposite actually.

It’s already there though.

So let's not spread it around?

Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#168

Post by dusted »

Good old reportedly.. Also, seing how we're only now starting to investigate the effects (and amounts) of microplastics in the environment, it might not be entirely unreasonable to not start building giant structures of it just quite yet ?

Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#169

Post by 7952 »

peoplefromibiza wrote: post #165
411111111111111 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they are different means of transportation, for different purposes. Most people I know mainly use their car to get to work and back home. This is a need that could likely be fulfilled by an E-Bike just as well, unless the route is unreasonably long. so while the initial statement is true, the conclusion you drew from it is false -- at least from the perspective of society.

> Most people I know mainly use their car to get to work and back home Anecdotal evidence is no evidence. Cars and bikes are complementary, not alternatives. Most people I know mainly use their car to get to work and back home too, they travel 100 kms a day on an highway from one side to the other of the city. If they had to go by bike, they had to be pro bikers, which they are very far from. Even if they took the ro…

Cars and bikes are a bad solution to long commutes. The best solution is short commutes or WFH. In that situation bikes are fine and even cars are less bad.

Re: Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete

#170

Post by aliswe »

jahewson wrote: post #79
aliswe wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asphalt also emits microparticles during wear and tear, as do tires... It needs to be tested, not assumed.

No you should assume it’s a problem until proven otherwise. We only have one environment and shoving anything we please into it without so much as a second thought is exactly what’s led us to our current predicament.

we know that the microparticles are a problem - the assumption that I'm challenging is that plastic is worse than conventional asphalt.
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