www.designboom.com: a team of materials scientists at the university of maryland have developed a new method of producing transparent wood. used primarily for housing, paper, and fuel, timber is one step closer to replacing glass and plastic windows. the advancement marks a potential new avenue for environmentally sustainable construction as transparent timber exceeds glass in its production efficiency and thermal insulation.
7 comments:
This is an extremely interesting concept that I would have never thought about. Honestly, upon first glance, it seems like this would be worse for the environment as more trees would have to be cut down to fulfill the needs of transparent wood, however I appreciate how the article explains the sustainability impacts that this material will have once it is widely available. I think it is really a great idea to use in homes as more insulated and energy efficient windows and doors. This is a great way to save energy in areas that many of us currently waste in. In my apartment, all of our windows are single pane and we waste a lot of our heat to that. This would be a perfect solution for our issue. I would have never thought that wood could be transparent, but the University of Maryland has made this possible in what seems like a fairly easy way. I am interested to see how this progresses.
The title of this article really caught my attention and the information in it was exceptionally interesting. I feel like the first thoughts we have about being more sustainable and environmentally conscious are about not using wood, so I was curious as to why wood would be considered a potential replacement for glass. I thought glass was considered to be a relatively sustainable and environmentally friendly material, so it is interesting to read that in the right set of circumstances, wood could actually be better than glass. Obviously, the transparent wood does not have the clarity that glass does, but I do think there are many circumstances in which this would not be an issue, or would even be preferred. I could see this transparent wood being a potential material for bathroom windows, as the patterns that are possible to make could provide privacy otherwise unavailable with traditional glass. I am really interested to see where this goes, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more research associated with it.
The headline of this article called my attention. Before reading, I thought I had seen something wrong. As interesting as glass made out of wood sounded, I was very concerned in regards to its environmental impact. I had always assumed making glass was less invasive than making wood. However, upon reading, I learned that it could be the other way around if treated in certain ways. This definitely opens the door for new possibilities, not only when it comes to using it as intended, but seeing how this wood glass reacts under different conditions. I’m mostly referring to the manipulation of the material, which is very intriguing to me. Quite frankly I have very little understanding of the science behind it, and I wish I could. This however does not stop me from being amazed by it, again going back to it, sometimes the foggy glass is what is required, so now we have that.
I think transparent wood is such an interesting development that could have a greatly positive effect on sustainable construction in the future. This article is especially interesting as it describes the way researchers have been able to think up a new way to create transparent wood that makes the product even more environmentally friendly with its lack of excessive and harsh chemicals. The process of what is simply put as bleaching wood and covering it in epoxy resin looks and sounds much safer for the environment and the people producing transparent glass than the method of delignifying the wood which requires a large amount of harsh chemicals. If houses and buildings could be built using transparent wood as opposed to glass or plastic for windows, it sounds like the toxic chemical emissions of a construction site could be decreased significantly. The windows in my house aren’t sealed the best and the living room gets pretty cold at night, but with the extra thermal insulation of transparent wood could be a great solution to this issue.
The title of this article definitely caught my attention because I had not known that wood could be made transparent. This reminds me of the article either this past week or the week before that about mushroom technology being developed to make into construction-grade bricks. Am thus far a very big fan of all this plant-based construction innovation that is going on, as it makes me hopeful to see such a leap in sustainability efforts. I do wonder about the idea of using more trees though, since deforestation and unethical foresting are big issues nowadays. I see some other people talking about how the article addresses the sustainability issues with this initiative, but I don't really see a solid solution. It just talks about how the production of timber windows is more sustainable, but nothing about the foresting. Also shoutout to Stephen in the comments section for absolutely undue negativity.
I’ve actually heard of this before, but it seems like the technology has come leaps and bounds since then. The pictures provided in the article are really shocking. I had no idea that wood’s appearance could be changed so drastically while maintaining its structural integrity. I have so many questions! I wonder how much waste would be realistically produced if this material became more widely available. I wonder what the price difference is between this and glass. I wonder if you could treat a smaller section of a larger piece of wood after it's already been installed. I wonder if this would have a net negative impact on the environment seeing as epoxy resin isn't recyclable but glass is. Either way, it's so interesting that this effect can be produced with things I literally already have in my house. I suspect there is a little more to the process if you want a top notch effect, but still pretty cool!
This is totally insane. I wonder how the pricing of something like this would stand up to acrylic sheets, should it see mainstream use and actually see mass production? It seems like there is a market for this kind of thing. Though I do have questions about the materials properties of this. How hot can it get before deforming? If this is just thin translucent paper then I imagine using it for small terrariums or greenhouses is out of the question due to the fact that it would get pretty hot within.
So that leads me to my next thought. Could a lighting instrument aimed at this material in say, a window frame cause this to deform. tear, or combust? The material is really interesting, I would be willing to try it if only to find the limits of it's use as a building material. The frosted look of the glass is really cool and it makes it look very much like it's not just a pseudo-plastic sheet.
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