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Researchers Show that Adding Cigarette Butts to Asphalt Reduces Heat Island Effect, Pollution

Cigarette buttCigarette butt

Cigarette butt

Much like the recycled plastic additive mentioned above, placing cigarette butts encased with paraffin wax solves two problems at once, it reduces landfill waste while also improving upon asphalt’s design, according to a team of researchers in Melbourne, Australia.  Unlike the plastic example, the cigarette butts do not improve the strength of asphalt, but they do help reduce the heat island effect of the pavement.

The City of Los Angeles recently made headlines when they decided to “paint” some of their existing asphalt roads a much lighter color in order to reduce heat island effect. Instead of changing the color of the asphalt, the researchers found that cigarette butts reduce the bulk density and increase the porosity of the bitumen, thus allowing for lower surface temperatures.

Asphalt is one of the world’s most popular pavement materials.  Because of that, researchers and scientists are constantly looking for ways to improve upon it.  Additives have been included in some asphalt mixes for years to improve strength, but recently researchers have been getting pretty clever with the types of additives they’re testing.

As great as a product as asphalt is, there’s no doubt that there is room for improvement. Scientists all over the world are trying to solve its most common issues, such as potholes, cracking, ice build-up, and storm water drainage. Los Angeles is now tackling another issue with the material: heat island effect.

In March of this year, Elon Musk announced that Tesla would begin taking orders on their Solar Roof Shingle concept.  Tesla Solar Roof is a solar power roof system that eliminates the need for bulky solar panels installed over top of traditional roof materials.  Instead, the shingles themselves, which come in a variety of different styles, are the solar panels.

At the company’s second quarter earnings report, Tesla announced that the first solar roof installations have been completed.

[VIDEO] World’s First Sideways- Moving Elevator Unveiled in Germany

Standard vertical elevators have had it too good, for too long.  After the first cable dependent elevator was unveiled in 1857, not much has changed in the elevator industry.  They’re still using cable systems and still only going up and down. But not anymore.  ThyssenKrupp has officially made a multi-directional elevator a reality.

One of the most challenging issues with modular construction, of any kind, is the sheer size and weight of many of the components that need to be transported and lifted in place once onsite. That presents a specifically tough situation for jobsites that are not easy to get to.  Arup, a design, engineering, and consulting team in the United Kingdom, has developed and successfully implemented what they say is the “world’s first modular glass-fiber, reinforced polymer bridge.” You may remember Arup from their testing of a “living wall” scaffolding cover that we wrote about last year.

Maybe I’ve had my head in the sand for a while (forgive the pun right out of the gate), but I’ve recently found out that the world is suffering from a shortage of sand.  The New York Times reports that the increasing demand of sand from manufacturing and construction in combination with rising sea levels and human development of shores is reaching crisis levels.  Sand is used in plenty of construction activities, from mortar to concrete to brick and asphalt.  We use a LOT of it.  In fact, concrete production takes a whopping 80 percent of all the sand that is mined. So what can we do?  One company says the answer is to drink more beer.

Solar roofs are an obviously popular choice for those interested in conserving energy, but traditional panels are extremely clunky and expensive.  Tesla and CEO Elon Musk announced last year that they have solved that issue, which the impending release of Tesla Solar Roof, which look like a traditional roof shingle.