First of all the technology is not new, Mitsubishi has a comparable product called DeNoxer on the market for a couple of years. Secondly the company does not say anything about the main reason of the catalyst stopping to work: Dust and dirt. This is because the reaction is a contact reaction, the pollutants have to be adsorbed first, before they can be oxidised. If there's dust between the catalyst surface and the pollutants, it means there's no reaction. Now could somebody please show me a surface with a higher probabilty of getting dirty?:-)
The third and really hilarious issue with this technology is: Under the new EU-Biocide directive, so called self-cleaning surfaces are not allowed to be marketed anymore since 01. October 2006, as they are intended to oxidise organic matter like algae:-) So much about the EU spending gazillions of Euro on Nano-R&D and on the other hand prohibiting to sell the developed new technology. Oh, by the way: If you produce the stuff outside the EU and comply with local regulations there, you can still import and market it.
Actually the company who sold the products which caused the problems, Kleinmann GmbH (http://www.kleinmann.net/), seems to have no experience with this type of technology. They just bought the raw solution from one of the few manufacturers out there, Nanopool (http://www.nanopool.biz/) and rebranded/repackaged the stuff. Unfortunately it seems their new packaging created a near lethal combination of aerosol, anti-corrosion coating and said nano-particles. (http://www.stiftung-warentest.de/online/haus_gart en/meldung/1366981/1366981.html)(German only)
joking aside, the phenomenon can be found in nearly every tech/engineering company in the whole wide world where the founders are engineers, still run the place and the company or industry has high growth rates. The suits only ever come in when growth is slowing down and the products don't sell by itself but need the help of the big, bad BS-marketing machine. Oh, by the way, I used to be a suit myself , with hundreds of engineers working for me, despite me mostly not having a clue what they were doing. It worked pretty well, mostly. The reason: Making business decisions and knowing the financials. Or to turn it around: To not get the suits into the door, get used to love making decisions and get a grasp of accounting. Then happy days. It is not that hard, actually it is bloody easy.
Classic example of a headline having nothing to do with the article it refers to:-) The Economist article does not really state that Tesco is changing Britain, except the well know Wal Mart effect of "devastating" small businesses in the areas they moove into. Apart from the issue not making any sense at all, because the only thing the data from the card can change by definition is the behavior of Tesco, not the British society.
For me the Tesco card is just an example of a very well executed marketing tool. And it won't help them when the big German retailers get their act together and at least make a serious attempt to grow in Britain. A 25% price differental between German and the British retail prices is an argument the best customer loyalty card cannot beat.
... press releases about breakthroughs in nanotech especially in the carbon nanotube/semiconductor field.
One should know that the US, EU, Korea and Japan throw an unprecendented amount of money into research in this field right now. And as the yanks have set the success metrics, it means all the researchers have to do is churn out press releases and file patents:-)
So, don't hold your breath re dipping, licking and roasting electronic circuits with CNT's.
Slashdot Mirror
You can buy paint-based photocatalytic wallpaint in every DIY store.
First of all the technology is not new, Mitsubishi has a comparable product called DeNoxer on the market for a couple of years. Secondly the company does not say anything about the main reason of the catalyst stopping to work: Dust and dirt. This is because the reaction is a contact reaction, the pollutants have to be adsorbed first, before they can be oxidised. If there's dust between the catalyst surface and the pollutants, it means there's no reaction. Now could somebody please show me a surface with a higher probabilty of getting dirty?:-) The third and really hilarious issue with this technology is: Under the new EU-Biocide directive, so called self-cleaning surfaces are not allowed to be marketed anymore since 01. October 2006, as they are intended to oxidise organic matter like algae :-) So much about the EU spending gazillions of Euro on Nano-R&D and on the other hand prohibiting to sell the developed new technology. Oh, by the way: If you produce the stuff outside the EU and comply with local regulations there, you can still import and market it.
Actually the company who sold the products which caused the problems, Kleinmann GmbH (http://www.kleinmann.net/), seems to have no experience with this type of technology. They just bought the raw solution from one of the few manufacturers out there, Nanopool (http://www.nanopool.biz/) and rebranded/repackaged the stuff. Unfortunately it seems their new packaging created a near lethal combination of aerosol, anti-corrosion coating and said nano-particles. (http://www.stiftung-warentest.de/online/haus_gart en/meldung/1366981/1366981.html)(German only)
..take away his boat and give it to Hasso Plattner:-)
joking aside, the phenomenon can be found in nearly every tech/engineering company in the whole wide world where the founders are engineers, still run the place and the company or industry has high growth rates. The suits only ever come in when growth is slowing down and the products don't sell by itself but need the help of the big, bad BS-marketing machine. Oh, by the way, I used to be a suit myself , with hundreds of engineers working for me, despite me mostly not having a clue what they were doing. It worked pretty well, mostly. The reason: Making business decisions and knowing the financials. Or to turn it around: To not get the suits into the door, get used to love making decisions and get a grasp of accounting. Then happy days. It is not that hard, actually it is bloody easy.
Classic example of a headline having nothing to do with the article it refers to :-) The Economist article does not really state that Tesco is changing Britain, except the well know Wal Mart effect of "devastating" small businesses in the areas they moove into. Apart from the issue not making any sense at all, because the only thing the data from the card can change by definition is the behavior of Tesco, not the British society.
For me the Tesco card is just an example of a very well executed marketing tool. And it won't help them when the big German retailers get their act together and at least make a serious attempt to grow in Britain. A 25% price differental between German and the British retail prices is an argument the best customer loyalty card cannot beat.
... press releases about breakthroughs in nanotech especially in the carbon nanotube/semiconductor field. One should know that the US, EU, Korea and Japan throw an unprecendented amount of money into research in this field right now. And as the yanks have set the success metrics, it means all the researchers have to do is churn out press releases and file patents :-)
So, don't hold your breath re dipping, licking and roasting electronic circuits with CNT's.