Hacker News Reader

Comment by lifeisstillgood | Hacker News Reader

tl;dr: US Forestry Service: We have too many trees ! How can we sell more of them in a declining building market?

The US Forestry service (certainly by Bill Bryson) is regarded as in thrall with loggers (builds roads for access to heavy equipment, sells trees at a loss acting as a subsidy provider etc.)

So the idea that the great new industry, that involves chopping down trees, should be owned by US forestry service, does not inspire confidence.

   The $1.7 million factory, which is owned by the US 
   Forest Service,

Who remembers the Friends episode where Courtney-Cox was asked to come up with some tasty way to make cakes with fish-chocolate?

View on HN

The US Forestry service (certainly by Bill Bryson) is regarded as in thrall with loggers (builds roads for access to heavy equipment, sells trees at a loss acting as a subsidy provider etc.)

You seem surprised by this? The clue is the name: Forestry service - it exists to provide service to the forestry industry.

BUT this isn't necessarily a bad thing! A properly managed forestry industry is a good thing: it provides a cheap, 100% renewable resource, acts as a carbon sink, and acts as a substitute for non-replenishable resources (eg, unmanaged rainforest logging).

At the same time, there is a tension between the renewable aspects of forestry management and the idea of opening new areas for exploitation. That's where the issues are, not around building forestry roads etc.

It's actually called the US Forest Service.

There is needless pedantry on HN and there is needful pedantry on HN

thank you, have a karma point :-) you deserve two for that

Apparently, the Indian government is funding research in producing nanocellulose out of bamboo:

http://icfre.gov.in/UserFiles/File/Projects/Thurst-Areas/lig...

I am also highly interested in:

  (1) Can nanocellulose or microfibrillated cellulose be made from recycled cardboard, and other forms of packaging we use to transport goods?

  (2) If (1), then can it be made in a machine the size of a Makerbot / Recyclebot?

  (3) If (2), can this material be extruded in a Makerbot-like device (computer controlled, cheap enough for makers < $2000)

I'm kind of curious if this high tech paper can be folded like origami into interesting transparent and super strong creations?

Maybe?

I'm more interested in reducing the numbers of trees chopped down for packaging. I've been recently more conscious of how much package gets put around objects when I get the things I order from Amazon. Further, if these could be done cheaper or faster than pre-made packaging, you could print the package around the object rather than hiring humans to package it up.

It's not just corrugated cardboard. There's also bubble wraps, and all the plastic packaging we use. And just as importantly: how easy is this stuff to recycle? Is it possible to feed excess back into a machine that chops it down to the raw material that can be reprinted into what we need?

Also: What about this article that popped up here on Y(HN)? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/magazine/arlene-blums-crus...

Can we print out foam-replacements for open source couches? Does the material have intrinsic "flame retardant" properties? (Probably not but who knows?)

Yeah that one got me planning how to replace all the mattresses and pillows in my house too !

Probably good news for Canada too as we export a lot of trees to the US.

Canada is at the forefront here. Technology to mass produce NCC was developed by Domtar, and the largest plant is based in Windsor Quebec.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com