Man-made trees that clean the air! Green technology?

SHIFT Boston,  an environmental municipal incentive, and Influx Studio from Paris are cooperating on a project named Treepods – artificial trees which would remove CO2 from air in their vicinity by using solar power, recycled plastic and kinetic energy from built-in playing devices. Their initiative is to install Tripods throughout Boston, creating an urban canopy.

Supposedly a green technology innovation, Treepods are described as modular man-made trees produced from recycled plastic (polyethylene terephthalate - PET). Using installed photovoltaic panels, they would produce part of the energy needed to strip the surrounding air of carbon dioxide, turning it into clean air with an alkaline resin. When the CO2-saturated resin reacts with water, probably meaning rain, it will release the carbon dioxide for storage.

The harvested solar energy would not suffice for all the Tripod’s energy needs, so Influx Studio proposes installing playing devices for children. These devices would, when played with, produce the remainder of the energy needed for the trees to function.

In addition, Tripods will provide the public with shade and also encourage interaction and learning by displaying “augmented reality information about the decarbonization process”.

This sounds like one of the proposals a very imaginative NASA employee might write on a piece of paper and throw it into the NASA suggestion box. And then this suggestion would be red by his friend, also a very zealous person with a great imagination, who would set up a proper project documentation, which would then be approved by the board. The project would be paid by the taxpayers, but in the end it would be really worth it! They would have created a ball-point pen that works in zero gravity! Wait a minute, why don’t we just use pencils?

 

This case is the exact same thing! Wouldn’t it be a little simpler more efficient, less expensive and truly eco-friendly and green IF WE PLANTED TREES INSTEAD? True, no augmented reality information about the decarbonization process” could be displayed… Or… Wait a minute!!! What about posters on recycled paper? Amazing!

Let’s be honest though, the mock-ups look great but the solution is neither eco-friendly nor sustainable when compared to its rival solution – planting trees.