The Budding Tech of the City Tree
© Green City Solutions
To promote healthier cities and cleaner air, friends Peter Sänger and Liang Wu founded Green City Solutions in 2014.
Air pollution kills around eight million people annually. According to a WHO study, only 20% of urban populations live in areas that comply with WHO air quality guidelines. With around two-thirds of the world population projected to live in urban environments by 2050, the negative effects of urbanization on air quality—be it traffic emissions, power demands or burning of waste—will only get worse.
To promote healthier cities and cleaner air, friends Peter Sänger and Liang Wu founded Green City Solutions in 2014. At its core stands the “CityTree,” which combines the natural ability of mosses with IoT technology. The CityTree is made of moss, which is able to bind up to 80% of fine dust while also producing oxygen. Due to its large surface area, the moss also produces a cooling effect. The integrated IoT technology in CityTrees provides performance and status information as well as general environmental data on the CityTree’s surroundings. The smart ventilation technology allows one CityTree to filter the breathing air of up to 7,000 people per hour. CityTrees also encourage community building as they include a platform on which residents can sit and relax.
The benefits of the installation of the CityTree extend beyond public spaces. For property developers the CityTree can be a cost-effective instrument of sustainable management. CityTrees can be found in numerous cities across the world, such as Paris, London, Berlin and Oslo. The German transportation company Deutsche Bahn has installed CityTrees at six locations throughout Germany. In March 2020 Green City Solutions announced that the newest generation of CityTrees, able to filter up to 82% of the air in their surrounding environments, are ready for production.