Slashdot Mirror
Google's Sidewalk Labs Thinks a Reinvented Awning Will Fix Toronto's Winter (engadget.com)
One of the prototypes Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs is working on for its planned neighborhood on Toronto's waterfront is a hexagonal paving system. "The slabs are porous and heated, which may keep snow and ice at bay without salting," reports Engadget. "They're easy to replace, and include LED lights that can, for instance, help direct traffic flow during construction or mark street closures." From the report: Sidewalk will also demonstrate what it's calling a Building Raincoat, an awning it says will help protect sidewalks from wind, rain, sun and snow to make outdoor space usable throughout the year. It attaches to the sides of buildings and is fixed to ground anchors. It's made from a durable, lightweight and transparent plastic called ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene).
In addition, Sidewalk will have a number of art installations at the public event, which "use lighting, projection mapping, mud and other techniques to reflect on relationships between humans and animals in public space, and the broader connection of ecology and urbanism." Some of the works will be projected onto the awning. Along with the prototypes, Sidewalk will discuss some of its broader ideas about how to make its neighborhood livable and accessible, in part through affordable housing and its transit system.
In addition, Sidewalk will have a number of art installations at the public event, which "use lighting, projection mapping, mud and other techniques to reflect on relationships between humans and animals in public space, and the broader connection of ecology and urbanism." Some of the works will be projected onto the awning. Along with the prototypes, Sidewalk will discuss some of its broader ideas about how to make its neighborhood livable and accessible, in part through affordable housing and its transit system.
and the awnings, too. It's not like that will consume any significant amount energy, or anything.
Cities that face winter use poured slabs for sidewalks because there are no cracks for the water to get into, freeze and then expand and break material. This will never make it past a demo section of pavement in a place near city hall so local officials can get their photos taken.
Why, oh, why, would you embed electronics that need to be maintained and repaired into sidewalks particularly once ... I'll stop here. Physics will just take care of this idiocy unfortunately some taxpayer money will get wasted in the process, hopefully not much.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
When burned, ETFE releases highly toxic hydrofluoric acid. One streets are paved with that, you should hope they will not host a fire.
Man... it's SOLAR FREAKIN ROADWAYS all over again.
Toronto is a festering shithole, that I will die a happy man, if I never set foot in again. I have never been able to figure out why anyone would volentarily go there. And I say that as a proud Canadian.
First law of people: People are generally stupid.
Another Boondoggle.
What I think they are they'll save money on salt, and lose it on medical bills. The ones I've seen are nice and slippery when wet.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Towns and cities have had awnings over merchant areas for centuries. It may not be this exact material, but there have been weather canopies over the bazaar and shotengai and market in pretty much every country, to either shade folks or keep them warm and dry. Many shopping malls in the USA from Michigan to Arizona used to be more open and followed the merchant street model around 40 years ago, but slowly became roofed in and fused into a single structural arcology model with shoppers dependent on air conditioning.
[
sure, you might save on salt, but you're heating the frikking sidewalk to evaporate water or displace it all... how expensive do they expect that to be?
Cities that face winter use poured slabs for sidewalks because there are no cracks for the water to get into, freeze and then expand and break material.
Pavers are used all over Europe (including in the north) for streets and walkways. Wikipedia showing description and examples.
So, by using more power/electricity, you'd don't need to remove snow.
And since you are helping climate change, you won't need to remove snow at all eventually.
Genius.
I think those Californians should either stay where they are, or go and live in northern Canada for a few years.
Way to go Google! Nice way to help persistent, ever-present fluoropolymers gain new markets!
See https://montreal.weatherstats.ca/metrics/extreme_max_wind_speed.html - wonder what happens when a 80km/ht wind goes down that street.
people still are NOT gonna want your spying ass embedded their 'neighborhood', google.
In Finland we use kaukolämpö (remote heat) to warm many houses in cities. As nearby power plant generates electricity, there is hot water coming out of the plant that is waste from the energy production. This water is circulated around the houses to warm them. Once the water gets too cold to warm houses, the remaining water is piped under some city streets to melt ice and snow from them.
Don't like winter G, get the F out.
These aren't awnings or canopies, FFS!
These are Building Raincoats. You see, by using a positively asinine hipster name, this becomes a totally new concept and a real game changer. My only regret is that they did not upcycle something to make the Building Raincoats.
It doesn't look like it can hold the weight of the snow. We had supermarkets with caved in ceilings because of the weight and this looks flimsy by comparison.
The tiles are heated so nothing will ever freeze there anyway. Read the summary.
Ah, melting the ice on the sidewalks. Magic. Poof! It's gone.
Where'd it go?
Remind me, beside what are the sidewalks walked? Oh yeah.
The road.
Because flowing water, yeah, that's what we want at -39 degrees around here.
Sure you can heat the entire city. Sure you can make it all indoors. But if you expect to beat winter, and come out ahead financially, then you've never understood winter.
I'm surprised no one has gone the other way on this. Disposable sidewalks. Full of cracks to absorb the ice and maintain traction. But they only last one season, or less. And they are very easy and very inexpensive and very quick to replace or repair.
Maybe a poured "concrete", fibrous like wood-pulp. Let it crack. Pour some more every month.
Google’s R&D efforts always remind me of teenagers discovering sex: they’re so sure they’re the first generation to really do it right and pity their puritanical elders who weren’t as enlightened.
Tip for Google in the future: maybe a quick web search to make sure your ideas are novel? I hear Microsoft has a good search engine.
It does not get -39 degrees in Toronto
outdoor architecture is a subject that's has been and is being pretty thoroughly looked into by some of the smartest minds there are. silicon valley and a bunch of money showboating is getting pretty old.
They publically talk about 12 acres of development. Actually, they're going after 350-to-500 acres of prime waterfront property. in return for contributing to an LRT (Light Rapid Transit) line, Google/Alphabet wants a big chunk of waterfront real estate. *AND A PERMANENT CUT OF PROPERTY TAXES IN THE AREA*. This makes the Amazon New York deal look positively beneficial for New York. See https://www.thestar.com/news/g...
I'm not repeating myself
I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
Yeah, it did this winter. I believe it was -25ish, and then a wind chill to -39. I was in it. It was down-right hostile.
Not exactly a new idea. We just had a story about a dog being electrocuted on a heated sidewalk downtown. No one ever does maintenance on this stuff!
Cheap knockoff of the guys in ID with the 'solar' ones? Not necessarily a bad thing, theirs seemed a bit over the top and years later still has a small half-assed demo site only.
If it works like my alley I have been trying to melt, it all just flows onto property next door and refreezes :O