Signal 5: Reducing Air Pollution with Sustainable Building Materials
Sustainable Construction– Sustainable development is ever-evolving, incorporating the most efficient technologies to reduce the environmental, social and economic footprint of development. Sustainable construction considers these impacts in new buildings (often associated with green-building glitterati LEED). With global pressure to achieve Net Zero or Zero Emission status, new solutions of reducing urban air pollution through urban forestry or sustainable materials are emerging.
Recent examples include the Palazzo Italia in Milan, the ‘Torre de Especialidades’ in Mexico City, and 570 Broome in NYC all feature a photocatalytic titanium coating that when activated by sunlight, converts nitrogen oxide compounds to calcium nitrate salts.
While much skepticism surrounds the efficacy of these applications, 3M announced their new smog-reducing roof shingle product which was tested in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The test simulated smog passing over the photocatalytic materials and confirmed that when exposed to UV light, the 3M product aided in air purification and smog reduction.
Future Work– More research should be conducted into the efficacy as well as Life Cycle Analysis to quantify pollutant removal and determine the pollution pay-off and drawbacks (what pollutants are produced in the manufacturing of these granules? How harmful are these products?).
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