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| 2005/7/25-28 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs] UID:38808 Activity:nil |
7/25 Pollution fighting concrete, &c.
http://www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2782,68282,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_6
\_ Trees have been doing the same thing for a long long time.
\_ Yeah, but we seem to be chopping down a LOT of them in
favor of concrete.
\_ "Encouraged by such results, the European Union last year earmarked
$2.27 billion for a project to develop "smart" construction
materials that would break down nitrogen oxides and other toxic
substances, such as benzene."
You think the Bush admin. would ever do something like that? It's
a great move for both economic, environmental, and public health
reasons. But there's no lobby that greases their palms, so it
would never happen in the US.
\_ We believe in this crazy thing called the 'free market'. If
people want this and will pay for it then it will be done.
7/24
34 threads, 780 lines, 157 replies, 22.9 lines/thread, 4.6 replies/thread
stddev: 28.0 5.9
\_ Free market doesn't work for things like basic
infrastructures. Take public transit for example. The
benefits are great, but the public needs to spend
billions of dollars and wait over 1-2 decades before
economic paybacks. In today's world, if you can't
make huge profits within 2-3 years, you're out. So what
happens when you privatize public transit? They look
for things that give you immediate paybacks, like
cutting back on the frequency of trains, automation,
etc. However, they are reluctant to expand more areas
because the investment is enormous, and there is
no immediate payback. Sure, free market makes everything
more efficient and more profitable, but what about the
original long term goals, which is infrastructure for
everyone to benefit from?
\_ Funny how people equate our car-based system with the
free market. I sure didn't choose to have my tax dollars
used to either pay for excess roads and suburban sprawl
or to bail out shitty car companies again and again.
This car-centered nightmare we have turned our society into
has nothing to do with the free market. It's socialism,
with the government doling out welfare to the auto
manufacturers and their minions. A true free market
solution *or* a socialist solution for the general public
instead of for Detroit would be preferable to the current
idiocy.
\_ What exactly would a true free market or complete
socialist solution entail? Please elaborate.
\_ The true free market solution would involve privately
owned toll roads maintained with no help from the
government competing with privately owned rail lines
with no help or intereference from the government.
A socialist solution that benefits humans instead
of bloodsucking billionaires from detroit would
be based mostly on mass transit, with emphasis on
encouraging developement in a walking and biking
friendly way. Both of these sound better than the
"we're all happy whores for detroit" system we
presently have. I think that car culture is wrongly
associated with the free market as a red herring to
decieve people into supporting their automotive
masters.
\_ Free market works when there is a plethora of
sources to choose from. If apple is really
expensive, then people can always buy oranges.
In the case of infrastructures like eletric
power, EVERYONE needs electricity and there
isn't enough competition to lower the price.
Didn't you take basic econ or experienced the
power crisis a few years ago? Free market works
for some things and doesn't for others
\_ Did I say the free market solution is always
the right choice? No, I didn't. My point
is not about free market vs. collective
sollutions, my point is about the evil of
car culture. No matter what economic system
you have, it still sucks to get kicked in the
balls, and car culture is still stupid.
\_ I don't know why we're talking about
transportation and other infrastructure, but I
believe the free market will provide better
building materials if people want them. Witness
what has happened with the supply/demand for
organic farming. |
| 4/3 |
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| www.wired.com/news/planet/0,2782,68282,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_6 Wire Service Photo Gallery Using technology already available for self-cleaning windows and bathroom tiles, scientists hope to paint cities with materials that dissolve and wash away pollutants when exposed to sun and rain. "It is also possible to make pavings that clean the air in cities." This is the idea: UV rays hitting the titanium dioxide trigger a catalyti c reaction that destroys the molecules of pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, which are emitted in the burning of fossil fuels and create smo g when combined with volatile organic compounds. Exposure to high levels of nitrogen oxides can trigger serious respirator y problems, including lung damage. The catalytic reaction also prevents bacteria and dirt from sticking to a surface, making them easily removed by a splash of water or rain. Cementa, another company partic ipating in the Swedish-Finnish project, said the byproducts of the react ion, called photocatalysis, are benign, though it depends on what substa nces are involved: Organic compounds are broken down into carbon dioxide and water, while the nitrogen oxides yield nitrate salts. Research in the field has been made possible by the revolution in nanotec hnology -- science dedicated to building materials from the molecular le vel. The catalytic properties of titanium dioxide become active when it is applied in a very thin layer, or in microscopic particles. A range of self-cleaning products coated with titanium dioxide, including windows and ceramic tiles, are already on the market, but the focus has mostly been on their practical value rather than the environmental impa ct. In Rome, the Dives in Misericordia church, designed by US-based archite ct Richard Meier, is made of self-cleaning concrete that helps keep the surface shiny white. In Japan, several modern buildings, including the M arunouchi Building in downtown Tokyo, are covered with photocatalytic ti les to reduce discoloring from pollution. Italcementi, maker of the concrete for the church in Rome. In a test in 2003, the company coated 75,000 square feet of road surface on the outskirts of Milan with photocatalytic cement. It found nitrogen oxide levels were reduced by up to 60 percent, depending on weather cond itions. A similar experiment in France found nitrogen oxide levels were 20 percen t to 80 percent lower in a wall plastered with photocatalytic cement tha n one with regular cement. "Now we want to find out if it works optimally and economically and make sure it has a long-lived effect that does not disappear after a couple o f years," said Eriksson of Cementa. Galimberti said Italcementi's products are 30 perc ent to 40 percent more expensive than regular concrete, and using the ex ternal air quality as a selling point doesn't necessarily appeal to buil ders with tight budgets. The company's sales pitch is that self-cleaning materials will save money in the long run. However, some scientists caution it's too soon to declare a titanium diox ide-fueled war on pollution. "Trying to clean up air pollution seems to me to be a stretch," said Reyn aldo Barreto, a chemistry professor at Purdue University in Indiana. But there's an awful lot of air and not a whole lot of surface." Cancel Note: You are reading this message either because you can not see our css files (served from Akamai for performance reasons), or because you do n ot have a standards-compliant browser. Note: You are reading this message instead of message board comments eith er because you have javascript turned off, are running software that pre vents you from viewing 3rd party javascript files (ours are served from Akamai for performance reasons), or because you do not have a supported browser. Terms & Conditions Note: You are reading this message either because you can not see our css files (served from Akamai for performance reasons), or because you do n ot have a standards-compliant browser. |