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Dutchman invents bike that tackles air pollution - as you pedal

Artist and inventor Daan Roosegaarde has developed concept from his existing smog eating tower

An artist and inventor from the Netherlands has devised a bike that he claims can help combat air pollution – by cleaning air in front of you as you pedal.

We’ve featured the work of Daan Roosegaarde on road.cc before – in 2014, we reported how his Roosegaarde Studio had partnered with Dutch multinational Heijmans Infrastructure to create a glow-in-the dark cycle path.

> Glow-in-the-dark road markings coming to UK after Netherlands tests?

Since then, he has developed a ‘smog eating tower’ that was built and sent to China – and which Treehugger.com describes as “a form of electrostatic precipitator where particles are ionized and then attracted to a charged screen.”

What’s more, it has been proven to actually work, according to the results of a study published by a professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology.

There’s also a by-product, too – the dirt particles it captures get made into unique jewellery.

The bicycle works on a similar principle, ‘breathing in’ polluted air which it then cleans and releases around the rider, although Treehugger isn’t convinced that it will be as effective as the smog eating tower.

Like Roosegaarde’s previous creation under his Smog Free Project, it has been developed with backing from the Chinese government, and he said: “Beijing used to be an iconic bicycle city.

“We want to bring back the bicycle as a cultural icon of China and as the next step towards smog free cities.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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hsiaolc | 7 years ago
0 likes

Well it state it works. 

 

So lets embrace it.  Every little helps. 

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DaveE128 | 7 years ago
0 likes

The accompanying graphic is a bit bizarre - as though air passes from exhaust pipe territory, up over your handlebars and up into you face, so that some strange filter on your bars will give you cleaner air to breathe!

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schlepcycling | 7 years ago
3 likes

Isn't the bicycle already an invention that tackles air pollution?.

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MarkiMark | 7 years ago
6 likes

So why not just put one in every car so it doesn't spew out pollutants in the first place...

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