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Concrete That Purifies the Air
fergus07 writes "Although much of the focus of pollution from automobiles centers on carbon emissions, there are other airborne nasties spewing from the tailpipes of fossil fuel-powered vehicles. These include nitrogen oxides (NOx). In the form of nitrogen dioxide it reacts with chemicals produced by sunlight to form nitric acid – a major constituent of acid rain – and also reacts with sunlight, leading to the formation of ozone and smog. Everyone is exposed to small amounts of nitrogen oxides in ambient air, but exposure to higher amounts, in areas of heavy traffic for example, can damage respiratory airways. Testing has shown that surfacing roads with air purifying concrete could make a big contribution to local air purity by reducing the concentration of nitrogen oxides by 25 to 45 percent."
Nitrogen oxides go into stone (if there is concrete evidence of this, har har) while nitrous oxide (N2O) gets you stoned.
...of course, someone will still confuse the two later in these comments.
So who owns the patent, how much extra does it cost, are there any materials not normally used in concrete that we should be concerned about.
With the way things are going, it will probably work out like this:
Monsanto owns the patent, it costs less than what we use now, but it has asbestos, and 10 years after installation if we don't treat it with a special chemical (patented by Monsanto) the asbestos is released spontaneously.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
Also you can't use salt to de-ice in the winter. Destroys the concrete surface quickly, which is why there are some concrete highways in the Southern US, but none in New England...
still no sig
If you can put up with an uncomfy concrete floor in your bathroom you could save a fortune in the long run on matches and glade plugins.
So what happens to the roads after a few years when the nitrogen dissolves the road surface and you have to re-pave?
Uh..you re-pave? Was that a trick question?
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