The Smog Vacuum: A Fresh, New Reality

A visualization of how the smog vacuum cleaner would work. Screenshots from video by Dezeen

Several years ago, Chinese meteorologists  developed  a technique to reduce the size of raindrops, delaying precipitation until storm clouds pass, and now this technology may be used to create a    “vacuum cleaner” for smog.  

Dutch designer  Daan Roosegaarde  presented an electronic “vacuum cleaner” for smog at  Dutch Design Week  in Eindhoven. The designer is working with the mayor of Beijing to demo the technology in a new city park, which will surely impress the locals.  To best understand how the device works, imagine the way  a statically charged balloon attracts hair. In a similar fashion, the smog “cleaner” uses coils of copper to create an electrostatic field that pulls smog particles down to the ground, where they’d be captured and compressed. The copper coils would be buried under grass. It sounds a bit dangerous (especially if you’re watering the grass!), but Roosegaarde insists the electric field is harmlessly low. What’s more, his solution to solving the pollution problem seems more viable and carries fewer potential long-term hazards than nano-particle ‘air-cleaning’ sprays, which are currently being sold though no one is really sure what their impact on human health could be.

Rather than clearing all the pollution from the skies, unfortunately all the smog vacuum can do at the moment is clear up small patches  of smog that are 50 to 60 meters wide. Along with scientists at the  Delft University of Technology, Roosegaarde has already produced a working prototype of the smog vacuum. In a 5 x 5 meter smog-filled room, the prototype was able to create a one-cubic-meter smog-free hole–not exactly enough to solve China’s massive air pollution problem, so now the challenge is to scale this up for large, outdoor spaces, so the team has been testing how high the field can reach, and will spend another 12-15 months at work before implementation in Beijing.

The solution to Beijing’s smog problem is no doubt much larger than “electronic vacuum cleaners” and an occasional patch of sunshine. But by creating a stark contrast in air quality in the middle of public spaces, Roosegaarde’s project would be an inescapable reminder of how bad the problem really is, not only in China, but all major capitals around the world.  

Main image: Flickr