those old trees of wood that give you shadow in hot days are pretty outdated, it’s time for trees 2.0!! without all that shadow and all that pesky wood!

  • StugStig@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    So a pond…

    Really, it’s going to cost far more to maintain a fishless fish tank than a tree and also it’s probably going to end up as a mosquito hatchery. I can’t imagine a situation where this becomes a practical alternative to trees.

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    2 years ago

    You know, this thing would have been cool as an Indoors wall thingy in malls and such, since algae doesn’t need as much maintenance as houseplants and would produce more oxygen too. Placing the tank outside is a strange decision, it simply doesn’t match with the streets stylistically or functionally and will require regular repairs and cleaning from damages of the elements and filth that would accumulate at extreme speeds.

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        2 years ago

        And pretend that we can continue burning fossil fuels because the problem has been ‘fixed’.

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      2 years ago

      The smell of fish tanks green with algae in an enclosed space isn’t really going to bring in foot traffic for malls.

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          2 years ago

          I’m very reluctant to share this information, lest the capitalists read this and make a fortune from it but the tank could have a carbon filter at the top, to stop the smell. The kind they put in ‘pet’ vacuum cleaners and professional kitchen fans.

          Edit, typo

      • TeezyZeezy@lemmygrad.ml
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        2 years ago

        Ehhh like another user said genetically they could probably fix that and I don’t know that the smell would infiltrate the indoor spaces that much if it’s enclosed (it looks like they are in the picture)

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          2 years ago

          In order for it to be enclosed it would need pumps to circulate the CO2 and oxygen like a photobioreactor.

          If the oxygen isn’t being distributed inside the mall why have take up retail real estate?

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      2 years ago

      Literally, imagine walking through a mall and instead of thousands of glowing energy-sucking digital ads you see life actively sucking CO2 from the planet

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    2 years ago

    There’s a tree growing outside my appartment window. When I open the window, its branches reach into my living room. There’s pigeons and bees in it, it provides shade when the sun is blazing at my appartment all day in the summer and it even mutes sounds from outside (which comes in handy because I live in the middle of the city center really).

    I’d like to see this thing do the same.

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    2 years ago

    From the photo, it looks like in all the space this thing takes up, you could have just planted a regular tree. It doesn’t make sense as an alternative in urban areas with limited space or whatever if it uses up just as much space.

    That’s aside from the fact that trees are helpful in keeping the temperature down during summer. I doubt whether this thing does the same.

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      2 years ago

      It uses more space! The bulk of the tree is in the air, with just a trunk at ground level. This tank looks like shit and has been designed as a trip hazard.

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        2 years ago

        This tank looks like shit and has been designed as a trip hazard.

        It’s a bench. Also at least lacks spikes, showing whomever designed this might be an idiot, but at least is not totally wasting that oxygen.

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          2 years ago

          It’s wider at the bottom, so people will trip over the corner if they only see the top edge of the seat with their peripheral vision.

          You’re right about the spikes.

  • Shrike502@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    Ya know, we often joke about “zoomers invented [already existing thing]” but this is just next level

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    2 years ago

    So years ago something similar to this was floated as a green alternative to street lamps and similar things. Basically big tubes of algae. They actually figured out how to get and store energy from the photosynthesis of the algae and use it to power a light in or above the tank. The crazy part is the efficiency of the algae at removing CO2 from the air. One tank could pull as much CO2 in one year as one tree does in it’s average lifespan. At least that’s what they reported. Course it would take a ton of maintenance and not sure what you do with the waste algae. As a method for sequestering CO2 it has merritt. Course then there’s always the thought of how much CO2 is generated from actually making one of said tanks. That I do not know but I still don’t think it’s a bad idea. Not really as a replacement of trees though. Hell even in the pictures of this bench thing there are still trees around it. You can see the trunk of a tree behind it and the some branches off to the side on the other image.

    • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
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      2 years ago

      Well, if anyone could figure out how to ferment waste algae into something tasty, it’s you, so get your thinking cap on 🌱🧑‍🔬🫙🥗

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        2 years ago

        Well the plan was to convert it to fuel alcohols for other purposes but realistically the best possible thing to do with it is dry it out and sequester it in the earth. Seeing as how that’s where all the excess CO2 is coming from. Until we can figure out a way to mass produce stuff like carbon nanotubes and similar shit out of raw plant material there’s a limit to what we could do with carbon we pull from the atmosphere without just sequestering it underground.

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          2 years ago

          Two good ideas. I wonder if it could be dried and compressed to be used as some kind of insulation?

  • InterKosmos61@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    I mean, it’s an interesting concept, if we’re using it for extracting CO2 from the air, but since it appears to be sealed, it’s kinda stupid.

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      2 years ago

      They bubble air through the water. You can see the bubbles in the picture. They actually developed something like this years ago and could actually charge batteries from the photosynthesis of the algae… Not a lot of energy but enough to power some lights for a while. They were floated as a way to light walkways and stuff at night while also sucking up tons of CO2. The original designs were just tubular tanks and supposedly one tank would capture as much CO2 in a year as a tree would over it’s entire lifespan. Or so they claimed.