DailyDirt: Biodegradable Materials Are Good For... Cars?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Lots of folks are working on projects to make car parts out of biodegradable materials. Growing car parts sounds like a cool idea, but there are still some bugs to be worked out (sometimes literally). Here are just a few examples of green materials that might make it into cars someday.- Latex from dandelions can be used as a plastics modifier for various car parts such as floor mats, cup holders and interior trim pieces. That's nice, and dandelions can make a nice salad, as well... [url]
- Biodegradable car parts could be made with natural fiber composite materials. But will the cars biodegrade before or after 10 years or 100,000 miles? [url]
- Adding soy oil to rubber sounds like a good idea -- until little woodland creatures start chewing on your electrical wiring. Rabbits have been known to eat through that new-car wiring... [url]
- Getting the keratin from feathers into plastics could help turn a waste product into useful materials that aren't made from petroleum. But all the 3 billion pounds of leftover chicken feathers won't even put that much of a dent in petroleum-based plastics production. [url]
- To discover more interesting car-related content, check out what's driving around StumbleUpon. [url]
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Filed Under: biodegradable, cars, plastic
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dandelions
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Hopefully it will improve the flavor as well.
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Dandelion car
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Re: dandelions
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Bad Idea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAZ-21
It is all-most impossible to get good preserved white/yellow steering wheel or any other white plastic part for this car.
So I am not happy at all.
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why the /sarc about tech ?
Rubber degrades very quickly (rubber comes from trees remember), and steal degrades (rusts).
you also do not need petrolium products to make plastics and nylone, you just need carbon, its just the cheapest source of carbon is from oil.
Lots of things produce carbon apart from oil, as you said feathers, trees, grass.
the only reason things are created that do not biodegrade is because it's cheaper to make.
so what you buy a car now do you worry that your tyres are going to 'biodegrade" before 100,000mls ?
All you have to do is make the manufacturer of the product (in this case the car) responsible for any product that they produce for the life of that product.
So all the parts that are not biodegradable, have to be sent back to the manufacturer, and they are not allowed to 'throw away' those item, but they HAVE to recycle it.
And alot of companies are doing just that these days.
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Genius!
http://www.wacktrap.com/travel/air-travel/under-hood-winked-denver-airport-parking-rabbits -eat-car-wiring
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