Wobland Spottage

[LynehamHerc]

It looks like it works like this. I wonder how many times more expensive it is than normal concrete?

Smog-Eating Concrete
The Palazzo Italia features not only incredible architecture but equally, if not even more amazing engineering. The six-floor building located in Milan, Italy is enveloped in biodynamic concrete panels developed to reduce smog levels by transforming air pollution into inert salts which are washed away by rainfall and are not harmful to the environment. Interesting Engineering states that “if only 15% of buildings in Milan were covered in the concrete, it would reduce air pollution by half!” The building is also capable of entirely covering its own energy needs, further cutting down on its carbon footprint.

[Hooli]

Things like that are a good idea, but you never seem to hear about them do you? I never had before now anyway.

[mercrocker]

The Italians have been getting rid of their "problems" in concrete for many years now.

[LynehamHerc]

Things like that are a good idea, but you never seem to hear about them do you? I never had before now anyway.

A quick Google shows why that might be:

Drawbacks of Smog Eating Concrete
The drawbacks of this technology include

High cost – nearly 5 % increase in the cost of the project.
These buildings should be adopted widely to have a positive impact on pollution.
The photochemical reaction between the titanium dioxide and pollutants in some special cases produce ozone as a by-product of the reaction.
The titanium dioxide is classified as “Possibly carcinogenic to humans” by inhalation.

[Missy Charm]

Things like that are a good idea, but you never seem to hear about them do you? I never had before now anyway.

There's a lot of stuff one hears in the context of the ecological movement that's too good to be true. They are, perhaps by dint of tendencies for magical thinking and a lack of pragmatism, vulnerable to pseudoscientists and snake oil salesmen. There's a claim on the EDF website, for example, that air-source heat pumps produce more heat energy than the electrical energy that goes in. No they don't. I've also heard eco-campaigners making serious claims for the viability of cold fusion and zero energy input catalytic cracking of water to produce hydrogen. It's concerning; if these people deigned to read a history book they'd realise that 'free energy', or perpetual motion to give it the old fashioned name, has preoccupied man since the days of Da Vinci, if not earlier and would learn that they were regurgitating free-energy scams that pre-date their parents.

[LynehamHerc]

Regarding air source heat pumps I believe that is true, it's not perpetual motion but an affect like refrigeration in reverse if I understand it correctly. I'll be honest I haven't really looked into them though.

[BenHar]

There's a claim on the EDF website, for example, that air-source heat pumps produce more heat energy than the electrical energy that goes in. No they don't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_source_heat_pump

"In a typical setting, an ASHP can gain 4 kWh thermal energy from 1 kWh electric energy."

Ben

[mercrocker]

In connection (copyright Hooli) with all this lectrickery I clocked one of these today.....

levc_vn5_official_pics_9.jpg (154.89 KiB) Viewed 847 times

Did a double-take and a google-check to make sure I wasn't seeing things but it appears they are a substance.

[Hooli]

The juddering fuck is that abortion? It looks like a Chinese copy of a London cab drawn by a blind child.

[LynehamHerc]

In a minority of one I don't think that it looks too bad by the standards of today's car and van styling. At least its not all triangles, rectangles, parallelograms etc.etc..