Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by exabrial 930 days ago
I’ve said this multiple times: a co2 removal system that turns co2 into a useful building material would be society changing.

Read between the lines: I’m saying figure out a better way to grow wood or make bricks.

Sawdust is not a waste material though, burying it is waste. Make paper or particle board out of it.

5 comments

Bamboo, it's the most efficient plant at doing what you want. The challenge is harvesting and processing it, and it's considered an invasive species many places so you kinda gotta grow it where it's already
For good paper you need some wood with long fibers. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_(paper)#Wood_pulp

> While in theory any tree can be used for pulp-making, coniferous trees are preferred because the cellulose fibers in the pulp of these species are longer, and therefore make stronger paper.

Makes sense. Is that needed for toilet paper (which will buried anyway)
You need strong toilet paper so it doesn't break in your hand. I'm not sure for which applications strength is not important, perhaps the cardboard that protect electronic equipment inside the boxes(?).
That's already a thing: https://www.livingcarbon.com/post/photosynthesis-enhanced-tr...

Basically though, more carbon needs to go into the ground than the air. AA (in this specific instance) is pushing carbon in the right direction.

Haven't carbon-capture bricks been a thing for years? Not at much scale, but don't they exist already?
Except that making paper or particule board requires energy and chemistry, which releases CO2...

So it all makes "economic" sense, and of course it is completely mental. But this is what late-stage, ultra-financiarized capitalism is all about (the same kind where they would destroy a good completed movie (Acme vs. Coyote) for tax purposes): pushing numbers.