Green Spot

Imagine large cities and traffic jams polluting the air, airplanes overhead dumping exhaust on to th citizens below, factories nearby with smokestack emissions blowing in the wind towards apartment-dwellers that help the city grow and stay alive.

The sidewalks and roads of these cities can now be utilized to rid the air pollution, and make the world a better place thanks to dutch manufacturer Struyk Verwo Infra (say that three times fast). They combine their material with asphalt, and although about 50% more expensive than normal concrete, it can be used in building walls as well.

The air purifying pavement contains materials that are photocatalytic, possessing the ability to work with sunlight to modify a chemical - used also in ‘Self-Cleaning Glass’, and converts carbon-emissions from vehicles (mostly nitrogen oxide) in to harmless nitrate (Nitrate is one of the macro nutrients plants need to grow). The nitrogen is then washed away in the rain. It reduces the amount of nitrogen oxide by about 25%-45%

Tests near Eindhoven in The Netherlands which were comprised of laying 1000 sq. meters of the air purifying concrete and coated stones proved to not only reduce carbon emissions, but keep algae and dirt at bay as well.

Like the song “We Built This City” by Jefferson Starship, although a greener city isn’t built on rock ‘n’ roll, it must be something as creative to help us all breathe a bit better.

These roads clear lungs.

The air is not clean. When combustion engines were thrust in to the world at the turn of the century, air pollution wasn’t a big deal. Nowadays, here in Los Angeles, its something we see daily as a brown haze in the urban sky.

The habit of filling our tanks and driving fossil fuel-depleting vehicles must change, but what will it take to make the modern world switch to a better solution? We must become humbled, and understand that a drastic adjustment to our daily lives may be the only thing that can help us breathe better in this world of ours. The ancient text of the Tao Te Ching, a guide for practical wisdom, states something profound that can be attributed to the changing of mindsets and living outside ourselves towards a better tomorrow:

“If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become straight, let yourself be crooked. If you want to become full, let yourself be empty. If you want to be reborn, let yourself die. If you want to be given everything, give everything up.”

Electric cars, hybrids, Smart Cars and similar green technology may not be the prettiest nor the most powerful ways to get from point A to point B, but we must be open and willing in order for change to take place. Our air needs it.

Zero Pollution Motors here in the USA, partner of the French MDI, is developing a car that “runs on air.” The small Compressed Air Vehicle (CAV) uses pressurized tanks of air to push the pistons in an engine, and can run hundreds of miles at about 35 miles per hour. There is a small motor inside that fills the air tank, and the motor itself can use bio-diesel, ethanol, or if you must, gasoline. BUT, by powering the engine with air pressure, the motor is capable of over 100 miles per gallon of fuel! Indian company Tata has signed on to distribute the car already, and MDI doesn’t plan on building the cars themselves, rather just license out the technology and cookie-cutter manufacturing process to large Automotive Corporations.

Some cars supposedly just materialize out of thin air too. In Oman, the islamic nation beneath Saudi Arabia, a Sultan boasts that an electric vehicle is in development there by Noor Majan that has a 2,000 mile range between charges, has 800 horsepower and goes 0-60 miles per hour in under 4 seconds. Oddly though, most current technology is not available to make this happen - the car probably does not exist, which remains to be seen.

One day, as this kind of vehicle technology improves, maybe all of us, the Earth included, can breathe in some fresh air again, and breathe out a sigh of relief.

One day our automotive habits will change.