It doesn't say whether this is using the treatment that removes all the lignite from the wood, leaving only cellulose, and compressing that. That was supposed to provide a sort of wood product that was as strong as steel, but lighter.
A building whose structural members are lighter doesn't need as much support, which may then be lighter, in a virtuous cycle.
Another material that has this property is titanium, which is surprisingly cheap, apparently smelted as a sort of afterthought to manufacture of the actually important product, titanium dioxide for white paint. Scrap titanium sells for less than scrap steel.
I have estimated that a SpaceX Starship (the "can" on top with the fins) after the engines are stripped off, would be worth maybe $40,000 as scrap steel. I had initially thought that the "thrust puck", probably of titanium, would be particularly valuable, but was completely wrong.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 11.2 ms ] threadA building whose structural members are lighter doesn't need as much support, which may then be lighter, in a virtuous cycle.
Another material that has this property is titanium, which is surprisingly cheap, apparently smelted as a sort of afterthought to manufacture of the actually important product, titanium dioxide for white paint. Scrap titanium sells for less than scrap steel.
I have estimated that a SpaceX Starship (the "can" on top with the fins) after the engines are stripped off, would be worth maybe $40,000 as scrap steel. I had initially thought that the "thrust puck", probably of titanium, would be particularly valuable, but was completely wrong.