5 Ways We Are Using Technology to Fight Air Pollution
Emerging technology can carve a path through the smog.
Air pollution is set to become the primary problem of the 21st century. Detecting and, more importantly, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will be critical in our clean-up efforts. Health problems like asthma spike with emission levels, and the University of Chicago has found that air pollution shortens the average global lifespan by 1.8 years.
The scope of this problem is so large that even designing ways to address it is a challenge. But where there’s a challenge, there’s opportunity. Emerging technology is already carving a path through the smog in the direction of a better future.
1. MethaneSAT
The biggest advances in anti-pollution technology have been in sensors. With a better understanding of where emissions are and how they’re affecting the environment, we will be better able to assess what tools are needed to address them. The mission of MethaneSAT will be to watch methane emissions from the sky. The Environmental Defense Fund will launch the satellite in 2020 or 2021 in cooperation with Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The satellite’s data will be available to the public for free.
2. Mobile sensors
The Internet of Things (IoT) is poised to revolutionize air pollution mapping with networked sensors. Data company Aclima and Google have joined forces to mount sensors on Google’s famous street-mapping cars. Already, they have mapped Oakland, California’s air quality on a block-by-block basis. This isn’t the only big mobile sensor project that focuses on air pollution: wearable air-quality sensors have been on the market for a few years, and in Seoul, South Korea drones track emission sources.
3. Blockchain
While mobile sensors provide a new and diversified way of gathering data, blockchain is the logical extension of networked sensor communication. With this decentralized tech, a vast IoT network could deliver data in real time. Not only could this be useful to scientists and industry leaders, but it could hammer home the problem of air pollution to a public that too often considers an invisible problem a non-problem. So far, early blockchain-integrated air pollution projects show promise.
4. Genetic Engineering
Air pollution is not just an out-of-doors conversation as indoor air pollution is a hazard for anybody who spends their days in an office or shop. Now, a variety of Devil’s Ivy (Epipremnum aureum) has been genetically engineered to destroy carcinogens. The plant’s new genes come from rabbits, and its leaves glow under UV light. Unmodified Devil’s Ivy only removes around 10% of benzene and chloroform from the air, while the engineered variant can break down 90% or more of those chemicals.
5. Large-scale Atmosphere Filtering
Smog is more than a health hazard. Without a serious reduction in air pollution, certain areas of the world will be unable to adopt solar power. In China, smog has inspired the construction of a massive air purifying tower in Xi’an, a large city in Shaanxi Province. Of course, one tower isn’t the solution to our global pollution problem, but it’s a start. So far, the skyscraper-sized prototype appears to be working. A smaller mobile tower, invented by Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde, is currently on tour worldwide. While this air purifier is less effective than its stationary Chinese cousin, it may have more public relations appeal because, in addition to being a visually attractive art piece, it transforms smog into commemorative jewelry.
This article was originally written by Anna Gooding-Call and pubished at an earlier date on Etekly.
