MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name

Pollution Prevention Pole

One-line solution summary.

Pollution Prevention Pole is an initiative towards sustainable development to control air pollution. It help tackle global issue of climate change.

What is your solution?

Pollution prevention pole is an idea to control air pollution. It is expected to purify the air around it and release good air to the environment in return. This concept would be a great application mainly for the urban areas and cities where automobiles are highly used. It is thought to develop this pole using nanotechnology as a process of purification of absorbed air and research is going on for the same. Also, two main goals of this project are:

1. Developing effective and cost friendly application.

2. Minimize the structural design to make it occupy less space.

As mentioned earlier, the design model of the concept is thought to include nanotechnology, solar energy to work efficiently. The process includes ; absorption of polluted air, purifying through nanotechnology and release of fresh air back to the environment. Here, the energy used for the whole process is thought to be derived from solar pannel attached to the pole. Further application is yet to be studied for detailed designing.

What specific problem are you trying to solve?

Air pollution is the main area focused in the development of the concept. Air pollution not only damages the environment but also causes many diseases. With increasing population all over the globe, usage of automobiles was also increased. It became a major problem in many countries and urban cities. There are regions where pollution is high but tress are less. With this situation it is important to fing a solution that can act similar to trees in providing fresh air. Also developing this concept into working model using technology is an innovative approach. This is a small thought to save environment and bring sustainability in lives of people.

Who does your solution serve? In what ways will the solution impact their lives?

If developed into successful application, this concept will impact hugely to save environment. It is a sustainable approach to reduce air pollution and bring fresh air into availability. Even though many people are adopting to eco friendly automobiles, it is still need an immediate solution to the current situation where not much percentage of population is using eco-friendly automobiles. It would take another decade or more to see whole world using eco-friendly and renewable products. Till then, it is our responsibility to protect the environment. Pollution Prevention Pole is one such initiative to not wait but to act. It helps cleaning the polluted air, also contribute to reduce diseases caused by pollution. This concept is not totally new as we have seen such innovation earlier by Mexican startup who developed BioUrban which is an artificial tree. But the difference between these applications is the pollution Prevention Pole is meant to use less space, affordable, and user effective.

It is under process as it is still in the stage of idea development. With a further research it is planned to design the model using modern technology.

What steps have you taken to understand the needs of the population you want to serve?

After proper research about the concept, it is developed to idea. In this process, i have just taken help of online resources to know about different aspects of the idea and to develop the solution. This journey is alone so far. Iam looking for a proper and effective team to work with, and take the idea further to process and development. All the required information is understood to develop pollution prevention pole as an initiative toward sustainability and climate change. The designing is under the process as it requires more knowledge and practical application. Since there were some evidence of similar kind of projects earlier, this concept's goal is to develop solution in even more simpler and effective way. The successful application of the idea could serve many cities, regions and even countries to help reducing air pollution. And also, developing it to provide it in affordable price is another moto of the project.

Which aspects of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Taking action to combat climate change and its impacts (Sustainability)

Our solution's stage of development:

Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution—in other words, what have you accomplished to date?

Climate change is a global issue and needs immediate attention towards its solution. Air pollution contribute mostly towards the damage of environment. If air pollution is minimised then there would be a chance to protect environment and combating climate change. Though it cannot be the only problem causing aspect but if addressed, atleast a small change can be expected. In this generation of modern living, it is not possible to stop using automobiles atleast not till the eco friendly automobiles are available for each person. So, waiting till then would only cause more destruction. Also in many areas, it became difficult to plant hundreds of trees to save environment. With introduction of this poles, industrial areas can be maintained with healthy air. Also it can contribute to prevent diseases caused by air pollution This is not first time, such initiative is been thought. There are successful stories of artificial tree called BioUrban by startup based in Mexico. Pollution prevention pole is just an attempt to simplify the process even more and make it available to vast communities and countries. It is thought to use nanotechnology in this project which could be even more innovative and effective.

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Team Lead:

Bellam Darshitha