Important Innovations

  "Engineered Wood" as the Most Sustainable, Superior Building Material Source: Portland, Oregon High Rise Tower, Iceland FABRIC, Portland's Sideyard Apartments, Maine's Ecology School, London's Dalston Works Apartments, Zurich Airport Terminal Purpose:  Fight Climate Change & Fires Future cities built of high tech, fire-resistant, non-combustible, lightweight wood could help reduce the ravages of Climate Change and be the best defense against destructive fires.  That is the startling but growing conclusion among numbers of global architects and engineers.  There's a growing belief that wood, specifically cross laminated timber (CLT), is a superior and more sustainable building material than the concrete and steel that are currently used.  One of the biggest proponents of this new thinking is the prestigious Potsdam Institute for Climate Change Research in Germany.  There are increasing global examples of CLT buildings including Iceland's mix use FABRI...

New 3D Printing Technology with Wood Ink - Alternative to Forrest Based Products Revolutionizing the Manufacture of Green Products A breakthrough 3D printing technology just unveiled in Sweden could revolutionize the manufacture of green products including furniture, packaging and clothing.  Engineers at Chalmers University of Technology have invented a 3D printing process that uses a wood based ink.  The process could serve as a sustainable and renewable alternative to forest based products. 3D Printed Substance that Mimics Wood The wood based ink is composed of a nanocellulose gel combined with hemicellulose, which binds the fibers in the gel and strengthens it.  The gel is used with a 3D printer that has a digitized form of the genetic code of wood.  The result is a substance that mimics the cellular architecture of wood.  It has the promise of saving trees, creating green furniture, packaging, paper products and enabling a more sustainable env...

3D Printed Wood - Alternative to Forrest Based Products Green Packaging, Green Furniture, Green Paper Products This new 3D printing technology from Sweden could revolutionize the manufacturing of green, forest based products.  It's breakthrough, 3D printing technology that uses wood ink to create a substance that mimics the cellular architecture of wood.  For a great news blog on this new technology, go to Important Innovations Collection: 3D Printed Alternative to Forrest Based Products : 3D Printing Wood Source:  Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden Revolutionizing the Manufacture of Green Products A breakthroug...

Inexpensive Alternative to Glass Windows and Solar Panels Source:  American Chemical Society KTH Transparent Wood New Innovation from Sweden's KTH This is important innovation in materials science.  Researchers at Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a transparent, synthetic wood that can store and release heat.  The material is transparent.  It's an inexpensive alternative to glass used in windows and solar panels. Their innovation was just presented at the American Chemical Society meeting in Orlando, FL. Building on KTH Research This is an important iteration on a research theme and results achieved by KTH.  They previously created a transparent wood by cutting the lignin from the cell walls of balsa wood and combined that with plexiglass. New Transparent Wood They've now added the phase change polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the wood fiber and plexiglass mixture.  The result:  material that absorbs heat and ...