Smog-eating glass coating could freshen cities

Globally, scientists are concerned with the increase in carbon in the atmosphere as the result of human activity. As they look for ways to reduce greenhouse gases, a new – and somewhat fanciful – approach to cleaning up the atmosphere is emerging. Specially coated smog-eating glass could help reduce carbon in the air around buildings in urban areas.

The notion of a smog-eating coating isn’t fanciful. It exists today. The fanciful part of this equation is the idea that the coated glass could be attached to a 3-mile-high building. Someday. If materials engineering company Arconic has its very futuristic way. Arconic recently offered up its homage to The Jetsons, envisioning what a futuristic building might include in 2062 – 100 years after The Jetsons first hit the airwaves. But could a 3-mile high building be built? What would it look like?

The tallest building in the world currently is Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It checks in at 2,717 feet – just a hair over ½ mile high. Today’s tallest buildings test the limits of current construction methods and materials, so a 3-mile tall building would require more than just a few new design ideas.

The smog-eating coating isn’t one of them, though. Arconic’s hydrophilic Eco-Clean coating exists today and has been on the market since 2011. It attracts pollutants with the help of light and water vapor. Once on the building’s surface, the offending particles are washed to the ground. A large-scale implementation may be one approach to cleaning up the urban landscape.

The company has some other ideas about how to get closer to the 3-mile tower, including multi-functional windows and 3-D printing. That’s right – the company doesn’t discount the possibility of 3-D printing a building – or at least parts of it – and buildings that generate most or all of their own energy. Their futuristic vision is based on technologies that are either available today or are in development.

One coating technology that’s available today is Glassprimer™ glass paint. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially engineered to bond permanently to glass. It can be used in interior or exterior applications, and can be tinted to match virtually any palette from any major paint manufacturer. In addition to decorative uses, the paint can be used to help control light and heat.

GlassPrimer also makes a glass surface molecular activator that is designed to work with UV-inkjet glass printing processes. For more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Jay Peeples, via Flickr.com