AIR POLLUTION-SMOG FREE TOWERS

-Dr. Ajit Sabnis

SMOG FREE TOWERS: These are the towers conceptualized and built by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde and team. It is not a Sci-fi. It is real and working!  They suck the smog, turn it into clean air, and filters out the smog particles so they can be turned into diamonds. The towers they built are used in Rotterdam, Beijing, Tianjin and Dalian, sucking up 30,000 cubic meters of polluted air per hour, cleans it at the Nano level and then releases the clean air back into the city.

 

                These smog free towers are incredibly effective: the air around the tower is 55 to 75 percent cleaner than the rest of the city. Accumulated filtered particles, rich in carbon are collected separately and compressed for 30 minutes and turned into dark, boxy diamonds. The diamonds are then used for rings and cufflinks, each representing 1,000 cubic meters of pollution. According to Daan, these are the ultimate waste-to-wonder conversion: toxic pollution transformed into gemstones.

            After Beijing, Roosegaarde is headed to India next. He plans to build Smog Free Towers across Delhi and other municipalities turn their dirty air into objects to treasure. He’s also partnering with NGOs, governments, students and tech companies to come up with other solutions to help reduce air pollution in our cities. 

            “It’s all about connecting new technology with creative thinking,” says Roosegaarde. “If you start thinking about that, there is so much you can imagine, so much more you can do.” (source: ideas.ted.com)