An Italian company has begun manufacturing a kind of cement that it claims will absorb pollution from vehicles travelling on it or around it; according to a report by the Italian news agency ANSA. While the claims have yet to be verified completely, if this is true, depending on the cost and availability of the materials, this could mean that the roads we drive on and the streets we walk on, or more potentially, according to Italcementi, the Italian company that invented the compound as a building material, our buildings themselves could potentially absorb some of the pollutants that our cars put into the air! Sound amazing? You’re right-and apparently so are the results; also included in the report is the statement that teast on an Italian road reduced the amount of nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide in the air in the vicinity by up to 65%. The compound is called TX Active, and here’s how it works:
It functions via a chemical process called photocatalysis, whereby sunlight triggers a chemical reaction when titanium dioxide on the surface of the cement comes into contact with pollutants in the air. TX Active works most effectively in bright sunlight.
Definitely amazing. Now, when do we see it in America so we can slather our roads with the stuff or build new skyscrapers out of it? Anything to help the pollution problem in North America, especially a technologicially driven one that can’t be complained about politically, would be a boon to both the auto/oil industry and environmentalists and everyday citizens concerned about clean air and water.