Hows about hooking up air purifiers to solar power?

Air purifiers take up energy which comes from polluting power plants. Hook it up to solar power and it has no negative environmental effect. Itll be expensive and probably not that efficient (Trees might work better, I don't know), but hey.

A big enough (or possibly a large quantity of) air purifier around cities might have an effect on the atmosphere?

Of course, if you want to go further in depth, the manufacture of said purifiers and panels also pollute, in the long run it would balance the negative out, i guess, i don't have any stats, just brainstorming.
-- The Duke, Mar 17 2008

Why air purifiers specifically and not "hook up any appliance to solar panels"?
-- Srimech, Mar 17 2008


Cause that's obvious and has been done, air purifiers might have a positive effect on the atmosphere without any pollutants or anything, anything else hooked up to solar panels (like kettles, tv's or whatever) would have a neutral or even negative effect on the environment. An air purifier plugged into a socket has a negative effect, I doubt that the amount of air purified justifies the pollution emitted from the fossil fuel power plant which supplies the power.

Air purifiers still won't solve the CO2 problem but it does remove tiny particles from the air emitted by vehicles, machinery etc.

The idea is simply this; air purifier hooked up to solar panels and just left alone to do it's thing...
-- The Duke, Mar 17 2008


You can get wind-powered air purifiers, I have several on my washing line.
-- marklar, Mar 17 2008


I suppose you could also use solar panels to gather electricity and use the electricity at night to power those hydroponic lights. Plants only produce oxygen in the daytime and CO2 at night, however if you shine hydroponic lights on them they will keep producing oxygen right? That would be another environmentally frendly way of producing oxygen I think.

For this to make any difference you would have to do this at an extremely large scale though. (should I post this as a seperate HB idea?)

As for the wind-powered air purifiers; you let your washing hang outside for long enough and youre gonna need to wash them again (yep, it has a negative effect on the environment) and im not sure how efficient it is, also, apparently air purifiers extract particles of .3 microns and larger (i doubt your washing has this capability).
-- The Duke, Mar 17 2008


So, not a system for removing particularly harmful particles from the solar wind, then?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 17 2008


No, but while we're on the subject...
-- wagster, Mar 17 2008


Hmm, I don't think anyone gets it.

1. There is too much co2 in the atmosphere 2. We are all going to die. 3. We need more oxygen in the atmosphere. 4. Less CO2 5. The world is going to end, we are all going to die, unless we can remove CO2 from the atmosphere. 6. Power plants introduce carbon into the atmosphere thus the use of energy has a negative effect; makes the world die faster. 7. Solar energy is environmentally safe ie; you don't kill yourself and everything around you when you use it. 8. Air purifiers = Good. 9. Plants = Good 10. The environmentally safe usage of energy and the purification of the air for the good of man and other forms of life = Good.

Solar Panels + Air purifier = non pulluting air cleanser.

This does not remove CO2 from the atmosphere but the air is still filthy, especially in urban areas.

Im going to bake the idea of solar powered hydroponics, think that might work better.
-- The Duke, Mar 17 2008


Baked. They're called "trees"
-- BunsenHoneydew, Mar 17 2008


1. There is too much co2 in the atmosphere
2. We are all going to die.

The second statement, while true, has nothing to do with the first.
-- ldischler, Mar 17 2008


// Hmm, I don't think anyone gets it. //

I'm pretty sure everyone understands. Agreeing and understanding are 2 different things.

My previous suggestion was a facetious way of saying that a passive air purifier would be more cost effective and that you should think about alternatives, I prefer not to spoon feed people ideas. I can't believe you took it to mean that I'd use my sheets as a filter then wash them again. Would your solar powered purifiers change their own filters?

Given all of those issues, I think the best semi-automated device would be wind driven, using a fan to drive a cyclonic filter, dumping the particulates in a big box that could be emptied and dealt with.

You could make a similar system using solar power to create an ionic filter, with the clumped particles dropping from slow-moving air into a box.

Trees do work a lot better so global air quality would be improved by buying trees, but inner cities cannot always accomodate more trees, so installing a unit on every street corner to be emptied when the rubbish is collected, might help local air quality.
-- marklar, Mar 18 2008


//2. We are all going to die.//
Well, duhhh.
Shit happens, eventually.
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 18 2008



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