Copper to Clean Smog

According to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, there are 100 easy ways you can improve the environment. For example, to conserve energy in your home you can use warm or cold water instead of hot water to wash clothes, or you can lower the thermostat on your water heater to 120 degrees.

Remember my October 2012 post Not Captain Kangaroo’s Green Jeans? I wrote about the possibility of wearing jeans sprayed with microscopic particles of titanium oxide as a pollution buster. Researchers are continuously attempting to find innovative ways to cleanse the environment. The jeans are still under research but we may be changing the way we dress in the future.

So what’s the latest idea?

Treehugger.com reports that Dutch artist/designer, Daan Roosegaarde, has developed a device that he hopes will suck the smog from the atmosphere. His idea is to bury copper coils in the ground and use an electrostatic charge to attract the smog particles to the coils. Gizmodo.com states that once the particles are pulled from the sky they can be compressed and repurposed.

The theory is sound. According to Pocket-lint.com, scientists at the University of Delft in The Netherlands have cleared the air of one cubic meter in a five cubic meter room.

Beijing smog – Courtesy Google Images

It would be impractical to try and build a smog-sucker large enough to clear an entire city. Therefore, Roosegaarde plans to install the system in a section of a city park in Beijing, China, and clear a small sector of Beijing sky. According to Gizmodo.com, the device should be able to create a 22,500 square foot area of clear sky and Roosegaarde, hopes it will show the locals what life could be like without the pollutants.

Beijing is among the smoggiest cities in the world. I’m sure any relief would probably be welcomed.

How cool would it be if technology advanced to the point where we could build super-sized smog suckers? I know this isn’t a solution to the problem of air pollution but in combination with prevention efforts, maybe my grandkids’ kids won’t have to worry about wearing respirators to play outside.

I wonder, could the copper coil/electrical currents have adverse effects on other parts of the environment? Is clean air a pie in the sky dream?

Home Repairs Made Easy?

Home ownership is tiring. You have to mow the lawn, trim the shrubs, rake the leaves, clean the gutters, shovel the walk, sand and salt the driveway, repaint, wallpaper. Aaaarrrggghhh, it’s never ending. And sometimes … it seems like the most benign task becomes a major project; I lose count of my trips to the hardware store.

Courtesy Google Images

Want to get rid of those cracks in your home’s foundation? There’s hope. Researchers at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands are developing self-repairing concrete. FutureTimeline.net reports that microbiologist Henk Jonkers and concrete specialist Erik Schlangen have created a self-healing concrete by adding inactive bacteria to the concrete mixture.

The theory? When a small crack forms in concrete it becomes exposed to the elements. Water seeps into the crack, activates the bacteria, and helps turn calcium in the nutrients into limestone which fills the cracks. How cool is it that scientists are figuring out how to grow concrete?

What I wouldn’t give for a lawn that mowed itself or a room where the paint never faded, dulled or chipped. Wouldn’t it be great if scientists could, somehow, transfer this type of technology to other aspects of home care?