The European Union is requiring member countries to have no more than 35 bad air days per year by 2012 or the countries will face fines of around $450 million. In order to clean up air pollution to meet the EU's standards, London is turning to glue. Well, a glue of sorts. The English capital is applying a calcium-based adhesive to streets to trap particulate air pollution and, believe it or not, it's working.
The city's street sweepers have applied the adhesive to air pollution hot spots around the city and particulate levels in those areas have dropped 14 percent. The project has cost the city $1.4 million so far, which is pretty expensive, but 14 percent is a pretty substantial reduction from glue alone and a far cry from a payout of $450 million if they didn't meet the standards.
London will be taking other action to reduce air pollution, including rolling out cleaner buses, retiring the most polluting taxis, enforcing stricter emissions standards and planting trees.
via Grist
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written by Meg, November 28, 2011
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written by Sue, November 28, 2011
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written by Basius, November 29, 2011
http://www.smart-urban-stage.com/blog/future-of-the-city/natural-wind/
World needs more ideas like this...
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written by Fencerdave, November 29, 2011
Occam's Razor works wonders, doesn't it?
@Sue-
I'm glad that you are concerned with the possible impacts, but for once Boris Johnson has done his homework.
The glue is swept up whenever the street is normally cleaned and a fresh layer is applied.
As far as the 'glue' itself is concerned, it is a solution of Calcium Magnesium Acetate, and is only 'sticky' in that it forms chemical bonds with small particulate matter.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/17246.aspx
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written by Norman Howe, November 29, 2011
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written by Daniela, December 01, 2011
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written by Fencerdave, December 05, 2011
The issue with applying the material to buildings is that it needs to be cleaned off on a regular basis and replaced with fresh solution. On the roads this is done by modified street-cleaners, but applying and maintaining the adhesive on privately owned property may be an issue.
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written by Samantha, December 06, 2011
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written by sarah, December 14, 2011
does it have the added benfit of making our bones stronger and muscles stopping cramping if running on this pavement like a cal/mag suppliment?
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written by electronics recycling, February 07, 2012
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