Wouldn't it be great if driving a car made the air cleaner instead of dirtier? Believe it or not, someone's already developed the technology to make this paradoxical pipedream a reality.
In a recent column in the Washington Times, Eric Peters sings the praises of realistic pollution- control technologies that "would allow Americans to continue their love affair with the automobile -- without despoiling the planet." Particularly promising is the aptly-named "smog- eating radiator," developed by Ford Motor Company and the Engelhard Corporation. Peters explains that this intriguing new device "features a special catalyst coating that treats all the outside air that flows through it, [acting] much like an air filter -- only on a much larger scale." This revolutionary new radiator appears to be able to "destroy 90 percent of the ground-level ozone in ambient air that passes through it."
Putting all that in layman's terms, Peters says that "'dirty' air passing through the radiator comes out the other side virtually 'clean.' Thus, the mere act of driving your car could actually clean up the air we breathe -- instead of making things worse than they are." The radiator does the cleaning all by itself. Nothing else is needed, says Peters, "and the technology can be applied to any vehicle on the road, regardless of age. Indeed, it would be theoretically possible to retrofit most of the cars currently in service for a fairly modest amount of money, and with no adverse impact on vehicle function or performance."
Peters observes that "one of the biggest obstacles to improving air quality is the 'lag time' between the introduction of a new emissions control technology" and its widespread usage. The simplicity of the smog-eating radiator should greatly accelerate the turnaround time. "Instead of the usual 10 or more years it takes for something like engine computers or fuel injection to become commonplace -- and therefore have a meaningful impact on air quality -- the smog- eating radiator could be put into widespread service in a fraction of that time."
Studies indicate that smog-eating radiators have the potential to reduce air pollution more effectively than either alternative fuels or coercive carpooling. One such study, Peters reports, "estimates that if 9 million vehicles traveling 266 million miles per day in Los Angeles were equipped with smog-eating radiators, the air flowing through these radiators -- and being purified of harmful ozone and carbon monoxide along the way -- would be equivalent to all the air across the entire Los Angeles area up to a height of about 15 feet."
There's a lesson to be learned from all this. "This technology is a terrific example of the innovation that is possible if society gives industry the chance to work on the best solutions for our air pollution problems," says Lou Ross of the Ford Motor Company. "You can't predict where invention is going to come from -- and you certainly can't mandate it into existence."
