For big problems, I’m a big fan of big solutions. After all, the sheer scale of systemic issues all but demands concerted efforts when it comes to fixing them. Even so, we can build in small developments that distribute the burden of change over a wider area. In the case of air pollution, where causes and effects are both diverse and widespread, it makes sense to hit it from both angles. This month saw a noteworthy development for long-tail environmentalism: students at University of California, Riverside have positively tested smog-eating roof tiles. Students at the University’s Bourns College of Engineering developed a titanium dioxide coating that, when applied to the roof tiles of an average sized home, “breaks down the same amount of smog-causing nitrogen oxides per year as a car driven 11,000 miles [produces]." Not a small claim.
To put it in context, they calculated that if tiles on one million roofs were coated with their titanium dioxide mixture, 21 tons of nitrogen oxides would be eliminated daily. Particularly impressive if you consider their report that “500 tons of nitrogen oxides are emitted daily in the South Coast Air Quality Management District coverage area, which includes all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties." Nitrogen oxides are produced by burning certain fuels at high temperatures, and when exposed to sunlight and volatile organic compounds they form the cozy city blanket known as smog. Not known for its rejuvenating effects, smog has a growing bad rap sheet and efforts to dock it are vital to urban health.
There are pollution-absorbing or -neutralizing tiles on the market already, and several proposals using titanium dioxide, but few have sufficient data to qualify their claims. Although their work hasn’t been peer reviewed yet, the finding is promising. Additionally, the students anticipated that their coating could be applied to existing roofs for as little as $5 per roof. With an adoption cost that low, large scale implementation could be feasible. Impressive enough work that it got an honorable mention in the EPA’s recent P3 Awards.
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