These Devices Will Eat the Smog Trump Stokes With His Coal Boom
- Small firms debut smog-eating bacteria, machines, facades
- Giant tower in Beijing cleans area size of football stadium
Daan Roosegaarde with his smog-free tower.
Source: Arie KievitThis article is for subscribers only.
An innocuous metal cylinder in a garden at the foot of the Italian Alps, quietly snacking on air pollution, may be part of the answer to President-elect Donald Trump’s ambition to stimulate coal burning.
Its maker, U-Earth Biotechnologies, is one of a handful of companies worldwide seeking to combat smog by, essentially, digesting it. The 10-foot tall cylinder, part of a demonstration project in Turin, contains a strain of bacteria that can consume car exhaust, sulfur dioxide from coal plants and other airborne nasties. One of the units can create a bubble of clean air about the size of a basketball court, according to co-founder Betta Maggio.