Last year, in 2016, Delhi saw one of the worst spells of smog ever witnessed in a season. This was right after Diwali but continued for a good month or so.
Heavy and thick smog enveloped the entire city, people were advised by the govt. and environmental groups to not step out of the house without wearing an air purifying mask.
The air quality of Delhi reached an alarming rate of ‘severe’ and suddenly all anyone could talk about was the air pollution in Delhi.
One step that has been advised for decades now by environmentalists has been to plant more and more trees to combat high pollution levels.
But this German company has actually created a product that cleans about as much air as an entire forest.
The City Tree
As per certain reports, as much as 7 million deaths are caused by air pollution, which has escalated it to being a global threat now.
It has also caused countries across the world, millions in order to cover up and create a better environment.
However, City Tree, created by Green City Solutions, a German company is supposedly an apt alternative to just planting trees and waiting for them to grow and finally give out clean air.
The ‘City Tree’ is a 4 meter high, free standing installation, that as per Denes Honus, CEO and co-founder of the company, can clean out the air equal to about 275 trees. The structure also has the ability to purify air against harmful matter like ozone, nitrous oxide and more.
Each of these City Tree has a range of about 50 meters and cleaning the air by about 30%.
Not only is the process of City Tree faster than a normal tree, but it is also allegedly 95% more cost effective and takes a lot less space than the normal trees do.
Read More: Modi Sarkar Is Going Easy On Environmental Clearances & It Is NOT Ok
How Does This City Tree Clean The Air?
According to sources, the City Tree uses a process based on biotechnology called the ‘moss culture’ wherein the moss has the ability to pull in air pollution from around their surroundings and then change it to their own biomass.
You could say that the Moss practically eats the air pollution.
Moss is also a good choice here since they have a bigger leaf surface area which results in them capturing more pollutants.
Mix Of Environment And Technology
The City Tree is also a good example of technology and environment coming in together and creating something mutually beneficial.
The Tree is supported by IoT technology, regular maintenance is not needed as the installations are completely autonomous.
This is due to the fact that the Tree has solar panels installed that cover the electricity bit and for water the City Tree has a reservoir where rainwater is collected which is then pumped out to the soil.
Image Credits: Google Images
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