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Entrepreneurs Fight Air Pollution With CO2-Reducing 'CityTrees' (cnn.com)

CNN is reporting on "CityTree", a unique 10-foot tall mobile installation which removes pollutants from the air." An anonymous reader quotes their report: Berlin-based Green City Solutions claims its invention has the environmental benefit of up to 275 actual trees. But the CityTree isn't, in fact, a tree at all -- it's a moss culture. "Moss cultures have a much larger leaf surface area than any other plant. That means we can capture more pollutants," said Zhengliang Wu, co-founder of Green City Solutions.

The huge surfaces of moss installed in each tree can remove dust, nitrogen dioxide and ozone gases from the air. The installation is autonomous and requires very little maintenance: solar panels provide electricity, while rainwater is collected into a reservoir and then pumped into the soil... "We also have pollution sensors inside the installation, which help monitor the local air quality and tell us how efficient the tree is." Wu said. Its creators say that each CityTree is able to absorb around 250 grams of particulate matter a day and contributes to the capture of greenhouse gases by removing 240 metric tons of CO2 a year... Wu also argued that the CityTree is just one piece of a larger puzzle. "Our ultimate goal is to incorporate technology from the CityTree into existing buildings," he said.

So far they've installed 20 CityTrees -- each of which costs about $25,000.

5 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. CO2 is a global problem, not a city problem by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

    CO2 is a global problem, not a city problem. There is no reason to locate CO2 consuming moss in any particular location, so it should be where it grows best, which is likely not downtown. This is obvious public "art" to make a statement, and not a serious attempt to mitigate AGW. Anyway, it does look cool.

  2. Re: This just in by SpammersAreScum · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Nobody is denying that climate change is real."

    Hahahahaha.

    "Is our country still spending money on the GLOBAL WARMING HOAX?"
    -Trump tweet on 25 Jan 2014

    "Global warming is an expensive hoax"
    - Trump tweet on 29 Jan 2014

    "I don’t believe in climate change."
    - Trump on CNN's New Day, 24 Sep 2015

  3. Sounds like enterprise-level sales bullshit by surfcow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, each "citytree" removes 240 metric ton of CO2 a year?

    Right.

    That's 529,109 pounds of molecular CO2, per year.

    What does it do with it all?
    Turn it into biomass?

    Or unicorns?

  4. Re: Begging the question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's a greenhouse gas you fucking retard. The more carbon dioxide you introduce into our atmosphere the warmer it gets. I'm tired of dealing with assclowns who think they know more than climate scientists who've never taken even a basic chemistry class in high school.

    Our air, during human beings time on this planet, has historically contained approximately 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide and small amounts of other gases.

    Every element in the periodic table has certain chemical properties that you can use to differentiate it from other elements. Carbon dioxide heats faster than the other elements that makeup our air. If you take two test tubes, stick a thermometer in each one, leave one filled with air and cap it then fill the other with carbon dioxide and cap it then hold them each equidistant from a bunsen burner (or any other equally distributed heat source) guess which one is hotter? The one filled with carbon dioxide. It's chemistry 101. We did this with lots of gasses in my first chemistry course in high school.

    The more carbine dioxide that is introduced into our atmosphere the warmer it will be due to the chemical properties of carbon dioxide. We can do two things to combat that. Move the Earth further from the heat source (the sun) or reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we're introducing into the equation. Since doing the former is fucking impossible we need to be doing the latter.

    That's it. It's that simple. Now shut the fuck up and go away dimwhit. Arguing that human activity isn't leading to more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is resulting in climate change is like arguing the Earth is flat or 2+2 = 5. Its ridiculous, you're a fucking idiot and we've already wasted too much time listening to your bull shit arguments.

    Fuck off. Immediately.

  5. Ivy league by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A simpler and cheaper way is to plant ivy. Ivy covered buildings were common 200 years ago.