Pollution-Eating Tiles
German-American architects Daniel Schwaag and Allison Dring have figured out how to improve urban air quality by adding pollution-sucking tiles to buildings. Prosolve 370E is a series of plastic tiles coated with titanium dioxide, a substance used to whiten toothpaste. When exposed to ultraviolet light and humidity, titanium dioxide reacts with and neutralizes pollution such as car exhaust. A parking garage in Sheffield, England, and a housing development in Mexico City are first in line.
Water Snakes
The Anaconda wave-energy converter from the British company Checkmate Seaenergy is a 200-ton, 650-foot-long water-filled rubber snake that uses the ocean’s waves to generate power. As waves rise and fall, the floating elastic tube transfers this energy to a turbine generator that cranks out power. Checkmate plans to set up several snake farms on western-facing coastlines around the world by 2012, with each producing roughly 20 megawatts of power.
