Using a Billboard to Clean the Air

Climate chart for Lima, Peru (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Air-purifying billboard does the work of 1,200 trees (Lakshmi Sandhana, GizMag, May 6, 2014 

 Also discussed here: Peru’s Innovative Air-Purifying Billboard (Courtney Mollenhauer Innovate Development, 19 May, 2014) 

And here: This Billboard Sucks Pollution from the Sky and Returns Purified Air (Matt Peckham, Time, May 1, 2014) 

Today we review several articles about a billboard in Lima Peru which scrubs the surrounding air and purifies 100,000 cubic meters of air each day which is equivalent to the purifying effect of 1,200 trees with the cleaner air benefits extending 5 blocks from the location of the billboard. In this case the mechanism was used to clear the air near a heavy construction site where small particulates were being injected into the air- and this example might be used for similar sites in cities elsewhere.

Key Quotes: 

 “it’s employing basic thermodynamic principles — that is, principles related to shifts in temperature, pressure and vacuum — to combine incoming air with water in a mechanism that balances their internal heat. That transaction results in the pollutants (dust, small particles of metal, germs and bacteria) hanging back in the water, effectively scrubbed from the air.” 

“According to the team, a single billboard can do the work of 1,200 trees, purifying 100,000 cubic meters (3.5 million cubic feet) of air daily in crowded cities.” 

 “between March 24-30, 49,800 people benefitted from 489,000 cubic meters of purified air, and that its billboard managed to eliminate 99 percent of the airborne bacteria from that total.” 

“the billboard’s benefits extend to a radius of five city blocks, benefitting both residents and construction workers, and that the water used by the billboard is fully recyclable”