Could Artificial Trees Save the World?
We’ve all heard about and seen artificial trees. In homes, offices, conservatories and hospitals they brighten rooms without requiring the levels of maintenance that standard trees do, such as watering, nurturing and provision of adequate light, not to mention preening.
However, environmentally, artificial trees generally don’t do much more than look attractive and brighten a room. it is possible that this fact is about to change dramatically. A scientist in America has drafted an invention of some artificial trees which are intended to behave in the same way real trees and plant do. Artificial trees will be used to collect and store carbon in a similar way to real trees and plants if the design were to become reality.
At the moment the invention is just an idea on paper and doesn’t look much like a real tree, like artificial trees do. According to the scientist who came up with the idea, it looks more like an American football goalpost.
The new artificial trees could perform the work of their real counterparts by drawing in carbon dioxide from the air just as plants do during the photosynthesis process but with the difference that the artificial trees would store the carbon instead of giving out oxygen.
According to Dr Lackner’s estimations, one of his artificial trees would be able to take care of around 90,000 tonnes of carbon each year. This roughly equates to the output of 15,000 cars. Using those figures as a base, we would need a quarter of a million artificial trees around the world to combat the effects of the 25 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide produces annually.
This is interesting news for the long term future of the artificial trees and plants business. It may be a long way off but let’s hope the idea comes to fruition and we can combine attractive artificial trees with environmentally friendly technology to contribute to protecting the planet’s future.