Technologies for Air Remediation
By Ciara Mulcahy
A variety of new and existing technologies can be applied to improving air quality and mitigating the effects of air pollution. Several technologies capture and sequester pollutants directly from the source. In industrial areas, filtration of smokestack emissions reduces the incidence of smog. Diesel filters can be installed in the exhaust pipes of cars to prevent products of incomplete combustion from polluting the air within and around cities. Unfortunately, ash builds up in filters, so they must be replaced regularly in order to be effective. Conversely, plants serve as natural filters.
Plants remove particulate matter and carbon dioxide from the air. Roof gardens represent a way to integrate vegetation into the urban environment. Construction of a roof garden costs ten to twenty-five dollars per square foot. As more research and development is invested in roof garden design, the price of a roof garden per surface area is anticipated to decrease. Roof gardens insulate buildings, which reduces costs attributed to the energy demand of heating and cooling systems. Additionally, roof gardens slow rainwater runoff and prevent the formation of ground-level ozone by lowering roof temperatures.1 France has instituted a law that all new commercial buildings must install either a roof garden or solar panels.2 Although this policy which incentivizes environmentally-friendly technologies seems beneficial, manufacture of solar panels produces carbon dioxide and toxic chemicals.
In the long run, manufacturing processes, energy management, and transportation systems should be redesigned to emit less pollution into the atmosphere. For instance, alternative forms of transportation should be adopted, as they produce negligible emissions. The most effective approach to improving air quality proposed thus far is to reduce the rate of pollutant emissions by slowing of the rate of energy and material consumption in cities. This initiative will likely be promoted through the work of activism and lobbying organizations and financed through government spending. Thus, natural processes may remediate the contamination caused by human operations.