The latest technology invention in environmental pollution is a tower that cleans outdoor air.
The Tower is a seven-metre (23 feet) high structure that removes ultra-fine particles from the air using a patented ion-technology developed by scientists at Delft University of Technology.
According to the World Health Organization, air pollution causes the greatest environmental threat to our health.
Air pollution causes respiratory and cardiovascular disease and accounts for over 7 million premature deaths every year - and that death toll is rising at an alarming rate.
China has the worst air in the world. Beijing recently recorded pollution levels that were 17 times greater than the acceptable levels recommended by the World Health Organization.
Air pollution causes 1.6 million deaths every year in China - approximately 17% of all deaths.
For most countries, the deadliest form of air pollution is a fine particle known as "PM 2.5" (particulate matter 2.5). It is so named because it is a fine particle that is only 2.5 micrometers in diameter. Unlike larger air-borne particles that settle to the ground, PM 2.5 particles can float in the air for weeks.
When you breath these particles into your lungs , they penetrate your lung tissue and get absorbed unfiltered into your blood stream - causing damage to your body.
The problem with current air pollution control systems is that they reduce but do not eliminate pollution.
Dutch innovator Daan Roosegaarde , in collaboration with ENS Technology and the Delft University of Technology, developed large scalable towers that remove pollution emitted into the air.
This technology was originally developed to remove MRSA bacteria (a type of bacteria resistant to antibiotics) from dust particles. The bacteria would spread from human to human by traveling in the air on dust. The air ionizer prevented the bacteria from spreading in this way.
Roosegaarde's Tower cleans 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour without using ozone and uses about 1,400 Watts of electricity - less than a desk-top air purifier.
Air from the area surrounding the Tower is drawn into the structure. All airborne particles receive an electric charge.
The charged particles are captured and accumulate on large collector plates that have an opposite electric charge.
The clean air is then blown from the Tower back into the environment.
3D Printed Car
The latest technology inventions in 3d printing are rapidly changing how things are being made.
It's an emerging technology that is an alternative to the traditional tooling and machining processes used in manufacturing.
At the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, a little known Arizona-based car maker created a media sensation by manufacturing a car at the show.
It was a full scale, fully functional car that was 3d printed in 44 hours and assembled in 2 days. The video link below shows the car being made. https://youtu.be/daioWlkH7ZI?t=5
The car is called a "Strati", Italian for layers, so named by it's automotive designer Michele Anoè because the entire structure of the car is made from layers of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (A.B.S.) with reinforced carbon fiber into a single unit.
The average car has more than 20,000 parts but this latest technology reduces the number of parts to 40 including all the mechanical components.
“The goal here is to get the number of parts down, and to drop the tooling costs to almost zero.” said John B. Rogers Jr., chief executive of Local Motors, a Princeton and Harvard-educated U.S. Marine.
“Cars are ridiculously complex,“ he added, referring to the thousands of bits and pieces that are sourced, assembled and connected to make a vehicle.
"It's potentially a huge deal," said Jay Baron, president of the Center for Automotive Research, noting that the material science and technology used by Local Motors is derived from their partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge,Tennessee.
This technology can use a variety of metal, plastic or composite materials to manufacture anything in intricate detail.
People tend to want what they want, when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it, which makes this technology disruptive in the same way digital technologies used by companies like Amazon and Apple disrupted newspaper, book and music publishers.
Imagine if you could customize and personalize your new car online and pick it up or have it delivered to you the next day at a fraction of the cost of buying one from a dealership?
What if you could make a fender for a Porsche, or a tail light for a Honda, for a fraction of the cost of buying from a parts supplier? How revolutionary would that be for the automotive industry?
It's already happening.
Jay Leno, the former Tonight Show Host and avid car enthusiast is famous for his collection of vintage automobiles.
One of the challenges with collecting antique cars is replacing parts. You can't buy them because they're obsolete and having a machinist tool the part doesn't always work and often requires costly modifications until the part fits.
So Leno uses 3d printing technology to make parts for his cars. "These incredible devices allow you to make the form you need to create almost any part", says Leno.
John B. Rogers Jr. believes that in the near future a car will be made in just 60 minutes.
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