Area of sustainability: Pollution and health

Sustainability issue:

Pollution from cars, trucks, ships et.c. is an ever-increasing problem, and heavily localized pollution is a health hazard for the population.

Technology:

• A number of startup companies has designed a solution that will help with this issue. It is based on building plants that will suck in the polluted air, and convert the CO2 to usable products, such as diesel fuel. This way, the pollution will be recycled and reused instead of being released into the atmosphere where it can harm the environment.
• This will also be beneficial in big cities like Shanghai where air pollution is a huge health hazard, and people are advised to stay indoors when it is at peak levels. This should not be necessary, and this technology can help aid this.
• This technology will reduce the effect of CO2 emissions from cars, ships, plants, farm equipment et.c. and in turn roll back the atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by directly capturing CO2 from the air.

Stakeholders:

• Government
• Plant facility management
• Construction companies
• Engineers
• Maintenance companies

 

Implementation:

1. Find the areas in a city where a plant like this would have the greatest effect
2. Get permission from the government to build one of these plants near the city
3. Make sure all procedures in the plant are well thought out, and that the processes will go safely

 

Main article: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/jul/14/carbon-direct-air-capture-startups-tech-climate

Other sources: http://www.healthandsafetyinshanghai.com/shanghai-air-quality.html

UNI: ms5584

My comment on another article:

https://makeasmartcity.com/2017/10/12/using-drones-to-monitor-air-pollution/#respond

“This will enable testing the air quality in areas that are not usually easily accessible. It is also a cost efficient way to analyze the air quality, so that more of the available funds can be spent on the research and development of solutions which will help improve the air and thus also the health of the population.”