Artificial trees against driving bans?
More and more environmental zones and driving bans are being created worldwide. This is because more and more people are also dying worldwide from the consequences of air pollution. The start-up company "BiomiTech" from Mexico has a solution to this problem.
With the help of artificial trees, the company wants to break new ground and revolutionise life in cities - and ultimately make it a lot healthier. The four-metre-high metal trees filter the air with the help of microalgae, which not only convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, but also remove nitrogen oxides and fine dust from the air. One of these bionic trees can filter as much air as almost 370 natural trees. "These trees can be planted in places with heavy traffic and crowds of people, where it is not possible to plant one hectare of trees," explains Jaime Ferrer, co-founder of the Latin American start-up. According to company information, the test phase has already been very promising. More trees of this type could soon be "planted" in Mexico, but in Europe, too, they are working flat out on comparable artificial air purifiers.
However, the cleanliness and the resulting improvement in health comes at a price: a whopping 50,000 US dollars per tree are required for installation.
Sums of money that most of the communities affected by the ongoing pandemic will probably not be able to raise - at the expense of all our health.