Many cities are looking for ways to lower their carbon emissions, and in turn, reducing their urban heat island effect. Typical solutions range from promoting the use of public transportation, to adding living roofs to buildings, to painting rooftops white. And while we all know that concrete is not typically an eco-friendly material, a new technology could make it part of the solution instead of the problem.
At the Eindhoven University of Technology (EUT) in the Netherlands, scientists have created a titanium dioxide coated concrete that essentially “eats” pollution in the form of nitrogen oxides. The paving material, which can also be used in the walls of newly constructed buildings, harnesses the sun to convert the nitrogen oxides into nontoxic nitrates that the rain will wash away. Professor Jos Brouwers, of EUT, says that areas paved in the new concrete will see nitrogen oxide reduced by 30 to 40 percent, lowering the occurrence of acid rain and smog which are detrimental to both humans and buildings.
Although it seems to be putting a band-aid on the gaping wound that is pollution, until air regulations catch up with the growing problem, the new concrete could be helpful to cities trying to lower emissions.
Read more at CNN
