Air-Purifying Billboard In Downtown Lima Filters As Much Pollution As 1,200 Trees

The ingenious invention from the University of Engineering and Technology of Peru is providing much-needed air purification for the nascent metropolis.

by Emerson Rosenthal

May 7, 2014, 3:45pm

After successive citywide construction projects caused a dramatic deterioration in the air quality surrounding the nascent metropolis that is downtown Lima, the University of Engineering and Technology of Peru (UTEC), the same school responsible for the world's first water-producing billboard, decided to take an active stand towards reducing the amount of toxic dust that citizens and construction workers were breathing.

Constructing a high-meets-low-tech air-purifying billboard that hangs over the center of the city's Barranco art district, UTEC claims their new invention has already cleaned out over 3.5 million cubic feet of air, giving 49,800 people the chance breathe easier. Oh, and it's hyper-efficient, too; between March 24-30th, UTEC says billboard required only 2,500 watts of electricity per hour, effectively making it operable using a portable personal generator.

Here's how it works:

It's a municipal solution with results as staggering as they are simple: for a city that currently boasts the highest level of air pollution in all of South America, the single billboard provides as much air purification as 1,200 trees. And given the tremendous urban revolution the city has experienced over the past decade, it couldn't have come sooner.

Says UTEC, the university’s goal in producing the above video was “to demonstrate that engineering is behind everything." It's exactly the sort of “highly efficient continuous process, with very low energy consumption” that we hope to see popping up in cities all around the globe.