It relies on moss and lichen and does all the dirty work, so the goop doesn’t end up in your lungs.
Cities looking for cleaner air, or people with a lot of cash and a penchant for purifying their backyard, now have a new invention to help them out.
It’s called CityTree and it works at purifying the air around you. The “device” is a stand which looks like a wall that’s covered in moss and lichen, and it’s said to do the work of 275 trees in one swoop.
In addition to this, the great advantages of the CityTree are that the wall takes up about 99% less space than the trees would and, while still expensive, it costs about 5% of what it would to plant the trees.
According to reports, the CityTree only requires a few hours of maintenance per year and it’s self-sustaining. The whole thing is built with solar panels and water retention systems in place and so it’s pretty much a hands-off creation, in terms of upkeep.
Green City Solutions, a German start-up, is behind the invention and it could prove to be a commonplace part of city parks, if it takes off.
What are the drawbacks? Each wall isn’t very tall, and so the invention doesn’t address the issue of smog, which tends to sit above a city, high up. That being said, having a few of these dandies on the roof of every condo building and skyscraper would certainly help to reduce pollution, and make for cleaner air.
Don’t hold your breath, but you could see one on a corner near you, soon.
Photo Credits: urfingus/Bigstock
