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Lampshades And Indoor Air Pollution | Earth Wise

September 26, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

We mostly think of air pollution as an outdoor problem. Common sources of air pollution include emissions from vehicles, byproducts of manufacturing and power generation, and smoke from wildfires. What we don’t often spend a lot of time thinking about is indoor air quality.

Indoor air pollution refers to harmful pollutants within buildings and structures, which can lead to a myriad of health issues. Sources of indoor air pollution include smoke from tobacco products, as well as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including acetaldehyde and formaldehyde, emitted from things such as paints, cleaning products, plastics, and cooking.

A team of scientists from South Korea’s Yonsei University has developed a special coating that when applied to lampshades can convert pollutants into harmless compounds. Composed of titanium dioxide and a small amount of platinum, this thermocatalyst can be applied to the inside surface of a lampshade and is triggered to break down VOCs when warmed by the lamp’s existing incandescent or halogen bulb.

In lab tests, the coating was applied to the inside of an aluminum lampshade, warmed by a halogen bulb, and then placed into a sealed chamber containing air and acetaldehyde gas. The researchers found that the material quickly converted the gas into acetic acid, then into formic acid, and finally into carbon dioxide and water. The scientists are now looking for ways to extend the pollutant-destroying-lampshade concept to LED lightbulbs.

The findings offer a promising and eco-friendly solution to improve indoor air quality and reduce the health risks associated with prolonged exposure to VOCs.

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Clever coating turns lampshades into indoor air purifiers

Photo, posted March 21, 2009, courtesy of Levent Ali via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Global Light Pollution

October 14, 2021 By EarthWise 1 Comment

Light pollution is excessive or obtrusive artificial light. It’s a consequence of industrial civilization. Too much artificial light can cause a host of problems, including disrupting ecosystems, causing adverse health effects, and wasting energy.

According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Exeter in the U.K., global light pollution has increased by at least 49% over 25 years. But this figure only includes light visible via satellites. Scientists estimate that the true increase may be significantly higher – up to 270% more globally.

That’s because there is a hidden impact of LED technology that isn’t accounted for in the satellite data. LEDs emit more blue light than previous lighting technologies, but satellite sensors fail to pick up this blue light. This leads to a large underestimate of global light pollution.

The researchers examined light pollution from 1992 to 2017. They found persistently increasing light pollution in Asia, South America, Oceania and Africa. In Europe, detected light increased until around 2010, after which it leveled off. In North America, artificial light appears to be on the decline. However, the researchers point out that the satellites inability to detect blue light of LEDs means that light pollution has likely actually increased in most locations.

Light pollution has widespread impacts on both animals and plants. For example, light pollution can confuse the migratory patterns of animals and change predator-prey relationships. It’s also been shown to cause trees to bud earlier in spring.

While there’s no off switch for the planet, there are ways that we could reduce the amount of light drastically with little impact on our lives.

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Rapid increase in global light pollution

Photo, posted November 2, 2008, courtesy of Timothy Tsui via Flickr.

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A Solar-Powered Vertical Farm

November 21, 2017 By EarthWise 1 Comment

Vertical farming is a method for producing crops in vertically stacked layers or surfaces typically in a skyscraper, used warehouse, or shipping container. Modern vertical farming uses indoor farming techniques and controlled-environment agriculture technology.

A New Twist On Electricity

October 12, 2017 By EarthWise 1 Comment

In a study published in the journal Science, researchers from institutions in the United States, South Korea, and China described the development of “twistron” yarns, which are essentially pieces of yarn that produce electricity when they are twisted or stretched.

Using Less Energy

December 19, 2016 By EarthWise

Americans comprise less than 5% of the world’s population, but we use almost 20% of its energy. This is a problem from many perspectives and it is one that we are at least trying to solve.

[Read more…] about Using Less Energy

Keeping Up With Light Bulbs

March 8, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Light bulbs entered people’s lives in the 1880s. Tungsten filament lightbulbs have been around for about 100 years. Fluorescent lamps were invented in the 1920s. These two mainstays dominated most lighting applications for most of the twentieth century.