7/15/2004: Light-transmitting concrete
 

http://cellar.org/2004/lightconcrete.jpg

(a hardware failure cause a few threads and posts to be lost including this one... but the image is still here. -editor)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: This will be great for foiling the dastardly dastards tryin' ta creep up on ya!

I know I have seen this somewhere before ... could have SWORN it was here! Maybe juju had it for one of his IOTDs on Hinterlands.cc?

Original link?
 

Undertoad, do you have any additional info about that concrete?

Makes it easy to follow the wiring and plunbing in the walls. Make a great party wall between apartments. ;)
Yes Wolf, it was in the Cellar, but not IotD.

It's glass...
 

I read in one of those "house of the future" magazines about a product very similar to this. The see-through effect is achieved by imbedding thousands of glass fibers in the concrete, allowing small amounts of light to pass. The article I read had a "Disco Driveway" with blocks of concrete with different color lights beneath, it was (as quoted from a 5 yr. old) "neato schmeato!"

Now what I want from this is A) a way to make the light one-way, and B) a switch to turn it on and off. Then they could make entire sides of buildings out of this, and save on energy costs by selectively using it for lighting during the day, and allowing light in for heat where appropriate, while still preserving privacy. Computer-control it to get the maximum out of the heating possibilities, on a room-by-room basis.

Light might get though but I doubt much extra heat is.

Concrete is a poor insulator. When you build with it, you need to insulate heavily. The insulation would block the light flow. This new translucent concrete would be a poor choice for cold climates. Better for warm climates.

Easy enough, insulate with water sandwiched between glass! And then heat or cool the water, depending on the season! Nothing simpler.

Ugh I posted this same stuff in Technolagy a while back

All I can think of are the varied uses to which this could be put to use in the next James Bond flick... :-P

* LiTraCon©

(I think they used up all their creativity on inventing the concrete, before they got around to naming it)

But look at that creative use of CapItaliSatIoN!