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Noise barriers muffle the transmission of traffic noise and constitute a relevant factor in urban action plans. However, their effectiveness varies according to multiple factors. The new green noise barrier developed by two researchers from the School of Building at UPM [(Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)] use the raw material resulting from the pruning of plants and gardens. The combination of this vegetable waste with a local substrate and water result in a new mixture of suitable acoustic and structural characteristics for these types of barriers.
Today, the commercial noise barriers are made of different materials such as concrete, brick, wood, and glass that consume material resources in the manufacturing process and generate a large amount of waste at the end of their useful life.
Researchers have now developed barriers made of recycled elements that reduce the use of materials and reuse carpet waste, scraps of paper and fibrous materials. In this study, the raw materials used by UPM researchers come from garden waste, specifically palm leaves. Using local materials provides savings for both transport and environmental impact, offering a solution to the excessive amount of waste.
This one comes with electrolytes.
(Score: 4, Informative) by bradley13 on Friday July 20 2018, @09:57AM (9 children)
This looks like nothing but a publicity text, with almost no actual information. I found the original, Spanish article at the University of Madrid [www.upm.es], but even it provides no link to any sort of useful information.
Basically: instead of building a noise barrier out of concrete, or some other durable material, they want to build it out of "garden waste". In the example given, they used palm leaves. Which brings the immediate question: What kind of durability does this provide? A concrete noise barrier will last for decades. How long until the "garden waste" barrier turns into compost?
Of course, they do say that the garden waste is mixed with a "substrate" - again, with no details. What's the substrate? What's the ratio? Maybe 99% concrete and 1% palm leaves?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Friday July 20 2018, @10:45AM (3 children)
True, the sources are a bit short on details, but using plants or plant remains is not entirely new. Locally, they use barriers that are a 3...5m high organic substrate (regular dirt and internal meshes) encapsulated in a permeable mesh with plants growing on them. Yes, it needs some work trimming them now and then, but they are superior. The foliage dampens the sound by absorption and is not reflected to somewhere else where it still is annoying.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday July 20 2018, @11:48AM (2 children)
And if you source that 3-5m dirt wall very locally, you also get a moat which, in Florida at least, will naturally fill with alligators. Moats are quite effective at keeping livestock and small children from wandering onto the highway.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Friday July 20 2018, @12:14PM (1 child)
Those alligators would be, like, road-decoration? Very flat road-decoration?
One can only hope that they point in the right direction and have been eating reflectors ;-)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday July 20 2018, @12:39PM
On Alligator Alley they put up chain linked fences to keep the number of alligator speed bumps to a minimum on the highway.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday July 20 2018, @11:45AM
The details I'd be looking for would include: sound absorption vs the reflection that concrete walls give. Concrete sound barriers have textured surfaces to randomize the reflections, but they still reflect an awful lot of sound energy.
If this "natural" absorption material is layered over a durable substrate, it might mean that the overall wall can be shorter with the same sonic effectiveness, and if you can get the wall down to half the height, rebuilding it twice as often is clearly a win on the economics.
Still, would be nice if TFA did more than wave hands about "locally sourced."
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 20 2018, @01:42PM
I liked the part about using local waste to form them. The Tri-State area has landfills that are full. Most of the garbage gets sent out to the Third World on barges. More recycling would help (NYC recycles, but Nassau County on Long Island barely does). Separating food waste and composting that would be a triple win, because it would save space in the landfills, cut down on the methane gas they generate, and produce rich new soil that gardeners and farms always demand.
Still, there are elements like the rug scraps and things the article cites that have no use. If they can reprocess that into highway sound barriers, then great.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @03:19PM (1 child)
All of the phys.org articles are short on details. That's why I hate that site.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 20 2018, @04:23PM
Over 90% of the Phys.org articles are reprints of university press releases. Direct your hate to the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday July 20 2018, @05:26PM
The problem I have with it is that the image shown is thick. I was concerned about it's structural strength, but looking at the drawing a pile of dirt would work as well. (Well, possibly not dirt, as that might run off in rainfall or blow away in drought, but gravel or sand mixed with clay anyway.)
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