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