In Rotterdam this week, the designer Daan Roosegaarde is showing off the result of three years of research and development: The largest air purifier ever built. It’s a tower that scrubs the pollution from more than 30,000 cubic meters of air per hour—and then condenses those fine particles of smog into tiny “gem stones” that can be embedded in rings, cufflinks, and more.
Each stone is roughly equivalent to cleaning 1,000 cubic meters of air—so you’re literally wearing the pollution that once hung in the air around Roosegaarde’s so-called Smog Free Tower. In the designer’s words, buying a ring means “you donate a thousand cubic meters of clean air to the city where the Smog Free Tower is.”
The project has been in the offing for a long time. We wrote about the idea more than two years ago when the Dutch designer first publicly announced the project, which was originally planned for Beijing after the city’s mayor endorsed the idea. Roosegaarde and his team have spent the past few years developing the first prototype in Rotterdam, where it was unveiled this month. “It’s really weird that we accept [pollution] as something normal, and take it for granted,” Roosegaarde explains.
To fund the travel, the studio launched a Kickstarter campaign where you can buy jewelry and cufflinks made with its tiny smog gems—which, theoretically, would eventually become diamonds if they were compressed with much more extreme pressure.
But for now, the tower sits on a patch of grass next to Roosegaarde’s studio in Rotterdam, whose mayor and local government supported the project with grant money.
The process taking place inside its walls is powered by 1,400 watts of sustainable energy, which is comparable to a water boiler, and the studio says it hopes to one day integrate solar PVs into the design to power the process—which works not so differently than some ionic air purifiers. Roosegaarde explains:
By charging the Smog Free Tower with a small positive current, an electrode will send positive ions into the air. These ions will attach themselves to fine dust particles. A negatively charged surface -the counter electrode- will then draw the positive ions in, together with the fine dust particles. The fine dust that would normally harm us, is collected together with the ions and stored inside of the tower. This technology manages to capture ultra-fine smog particles which regular filter systems fail to do.
The team’s Kickstarter, where the studio is raising funds for another eight days, is closing in on doubling its goal—you can get your own smog gems by donating here.
It’s actually pretty good. I’m liking it a lot. Even though by now every idea has been butchered and used in every possible way by others.
Why did they remake Star Trek: Wrath of Khan into that terrible “Into Darkness” Movie when they could have taken any of these old episodes, update them, and use them as a template for something grand! These episodes are brimming with ideas!
Not gonna lie, Into darkness would have been better had they just casted someone other than crinklehop bandersnatch because ID kahn is more of a rogue but WoK kahn is a warrior. blanderpop wasn’t the right person to cast for kahn.
I don’t think that was Cumberbatch’s fault. Just the writing in general. The story seemed to be trying to replicate the Wrath of Khan, but not understanding what made Wrath of Khan so good.
What made Wrath of Khan so good, was that it deconstructed Kirk. It deconstructed Kirk’s “Always another way” winning strategy. Kirk ALWAYS wins, and he never suffers any major losses during it. Even if he has to cheat the odds. Wrath of Khan was about showing Kirk’s failings, and digging a heel into his face with how he can’t keep playing his close games of death without losing at least once.
Into Darkness didn’t get that, and seemed to go with a “Captain’s Sacrifice Theme,” which didn’t need Khan. Khan was put in because of name recognition.
TLDR: Into Darkness was dragged down because it wanted to be Wrath of Khan, but missed out completely on the themes that made Wrath of Khan good, and replaced it with a theme that could have been done in any story, including the first movie.
Huh. I guess that’s a better reason as to why the kahn of ID was so lame. Because he literally could have been replaced with anyone else and it still be the same movie.
What they think they're doing: good harmless fun :)
What they're actually doing: making me more paranoid, making me ashamed of what I like, more distrustful. More likely to hide all my interests and not want to open up to anybody.
I am Silver Tongue, I am an artist. I have many characters and you can check out my art in the art tag. I occasionally practice witchcraft though I don't do anything too complicated. I am girl 2 and don't know what else to put here.
