The Future of Clean Air: How Moss and Machine Learning are Transforming Cities

Today, we're taking a look at a company that's using moss and machine learning to filter out air pollution in cities. We spoke to one of the company's co-founders to learn all about how it works, where it's being put to use, and what comes next.

Mosses have been existing for millions of years and are one of the species that made it possible for us to live and breathe on this earth. They created the atmosphere, and their unique characteristic is that they take nutrients from the leaf surface. Liang Wu, co-founder and chief information officer of Green City Solutions, shared with us how the company was able to create a suitable environment for moss to grow within cities.

We use specific sensors which detect the humidity and temperature but also the pollution levels, and then we have our own machine learning algorithm that takes all the data collected from the various sensors and provides the mosses with the perfect environment for them to grow in the city. We adjust the humidity, we adjust how much air or ventilation goes through the mosses, and we can adjust the nutrient levels. These innovations materialized into a product called the City Tree, which is like a wooden construction with moss panels inside and with the help of sensors and a ventilation system.

We are actively capable of filtering air pollution especially particulate matter and the mosses convert that air pollution into biomass so they're literally eating the pollution. Liang tells me that the mosses inside city tree also cool the surrounding air temperature. If you think about mosses in the natural habitat, so in the forest, they would take the humidity from the morning or the evening dew and this is how they get the moisture. But the large leaf surface of the mussels also enables them to evaporate a lot of water and this is the mechanism that we use in the city tree or in the city.

So, we give them more water than they would usually have and the evaporation effect cools the ambient air temperature by up to 40 degrees. Green City Solutions claims that one city tree can reduce fine dust pollution by up to 53 percent and filters air equivalent to the breathing volume of 7,000 people every hour. The inputs for that mossy air purification are about 4 liters of water per operating hour depending on the weather and 120 watts of power.

City trees have already been put to use in some cities, and you can find them here and check them out for yourself at the moment they're available in Berlin, Oslo, London, Paris, and Cork Island. We also had pilot projects in Hong Kong, but the city tree and the moss inside it do have some limitations, there is a certain level of pollution that the mosses wouldn't tolerate anymore. We haven't installed city trees in areas where the pollution has been that high mainly because in Europe, there are no pollution hotspots that are that severe.

So, we might have to take a look at Asia, India, or China where much more severe pollution hotspots, but I'm very certain that our technology would be able to adapt the mosses so that they would be able to survive there as well. Green City Solutions also offers a combination of moss wall and LCD screen called city breeze, which could be used to display things like advertisements or public service announcements.

The company is also developing a modular scalable moss wall design called Wall Breeze, expected to be completed early next year. Right now, our business model focuses on selling a city tree and a one-off sale, so we approach customers who are looking for a solution and then they have the possibility to buy one city tree for let's say 40 to 50,000 euros. But our business model is shifting in a sense that we now offer rental and then in the next step, we plan to use the solution to combine it with advertising or other revenue, recurring revenue models.

So, that recurring revenue finances the installation of the filter, so in the end, our goal is to make fresh air clean air free for all residents and get the money from other sources. What's next for City Tree? Our vision is that by 2030, nine years we were able to compensate up to three million tons of carbon dioxide. Our vision is climate infrastructure which spans over the city and collects information on the air pollution levels, temperature, and humidity, with the climate infrastructure we are then able to target pollution hotspots and heat islands and improve air quality hyperlocally for people spending time in those zones.

So, what do you think of City Tree? Would you want more moss growing in your community? Let us know down in the comments as always. Thanks so much for watching, I'm your host Jesse Earl, see you next time with The Fam.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday we're taking a look at a company that uses moss and machine learning to filter out air pollution in cities we spoke to one of the company's co-founders to learn all about how it works where it's being put to use and what comes next let's get into it mosses have been existing for millions of years and they are one of the species that made it possible for us to live and breathe on this earth so they created the atmosphere and the unique thing about mosses is that they take the nutrients from the leaf surface that's liang wu co-founder and chief information officer of green city solutions he shared with us how the company was able to create a suitable environment for moss to grow within cities we use specific sensors which detect the humidity and the temperature but also the pollution levels and then we have our own machine learning algorithm that takes all the data collected from the various sensors and provides the mosses with the perfect environment for them to grow in the city so we adjust the humidity we adjust how much air or ventilation goes through the mosses we can adjust the nutrient levels these innovations materialized into a product called the city tree it's like a wooden construction with moss panels inside and with the help of sensors and a ventilation system we are actively capable of filtering air pollution especially particulate matter and the mosses convert that air pollution into biomass so they're literally eating the pollution liang tells me that the mosses inside city tree also cool the surrounding air temperature so if you think about mosses in the natural habitat so in the forest they would take the humidity from the morning or the evening dew and this is how they get the moisture but the large leaf surface of the mussels also enables them to evaporate a lot of water and this is the mechanism that we use in the city tree or in the city so we give them more water than they would usually have and the evaporation effect cools the ambient air temperature by up to 40 degrees green city solutions claims that one city tree can reduce fine dust pollution by up to 53 percent and filters air equivalent to the breathing volume of 7 000 people every hour the inputs for that mossy air purification are about 4 liters of water per operating hour depending on the weather and 120 watts of power city trees have already been put to use in some cities here's where you can go find them and check them out for yourself at the moment you can see them in berlin oslo london in paris or in cork island we also had pilot projects in hong kong however the city tree and the moss inside it do have some limitations there definitely is a certain level of pollution that the mosses wouldn't tolerate anymore we haven't installed city trees in areas where the pollution has been that high mainly because in europe there are no pollution hotspots that are that severe so we might have to take a look uh for instance to to asia to india or to china where much more severe pollution hotspots but i'm very certain that our technology would be able to adapt the mosses so that would they would be able to survive there as well green city solutions also offers a combination moss wall and lcd screen called city breeze that could be used to display things like advertisements or public service announcements the company is also developing a modular scalable moss wall design called wall breeze expected to be completed early next year so right now our business model focuses on selling a city tree and a one-off sale so we approach customers who are looking for a solution and then they have the possibility to to buy one city tree for let's say 40 to 50 000 euros but our business model is shifting in a sense that we now offer rental and then in the next step we plan to use the solution to combine it for instance with advertising or other revenue recurring revenue models so that recurring revenue finances the installation of the filter so in the end our goal is to make fresh air clean air free for all the residents and get the money from other sources so what's next for city tree our vision is that by 2030 so nine years we were able to compensate up to three million tons of carbon dioxide and our vision is climate infrastructure which spans over the city and collects information on the air pollution levels on the temperature and the humidity and with the climate infrastructure we are then able to target the pollution hotspots and the heat islands and improve the air quality hyperlocally for the people spending time in that zones what do you think of city tree would you want more moss growing in your community let us know down in the comments as always thanks so much for watching i'm your host jesse earl see you next time with the famtoday we're taking a look at a company that uses moss and machine learning to filter out air pollution in cities we spoke to one of the company's co-founders to learn all about how it works where it's being put to use and what comes next let's get into it mosses have been existing for millions of years and they are one of the species that made it possible for us to live and breathe on this earth so they created the atmosphere and the unique thing about mosses is that they take the nutrients from the leaf surface that's liang wu co-founder and chief information officer of green city solutions he shared with us how the company was able to create a suitable environment for moss to grow within cities we use specific sensors which detect the humidity and the temperature but also the pollution levels and then we have our own machine learning algorithm that takes all the data collected from the various sensors and provides the mosses with the perfect environment for them to grow in the city so we adjust the humidity we adjust how much air or ventilation goes through the mosses we can adjust the nutrient levels these innovations materialized into a product called the city tree it's like a wooden construction with moss panels inside and with the help of sensors and a ventilation system we are actively capable of filtering air pollution especially particulate matter and the mosses convert that air pollution into biomass so they're literally eating the pollution liang tells me that the mosses inside city tree also cool the surrounding air temperature so if you think about mosses in the natural habitat so in the forest they would take the humidity from the morning or the evening dew and this is how they get the moisture but the large leaf surface of the mussels also enables them to evaporate a lot of water and this is the mechanism that we use in the city tree or in the city so we give them more water than they would usually have and the evaporation effect cools the ambient air temperature by up to 40 degrees green city solutions claims that one city tree can reduce fine dust pollution by up to 53 percent and filters air equivalent to the breathing volume of 7 000 people every hour the inputs for that mossy air purification are about 4 liters of water per operating hour depending on the weather and 120 watts of power city trees have already been put to use in some cities here's where you can go find them and check them out for yourself at the moment you can see them in berlin oslo london in paris or in cork island we also had pilot projects in hong kong however the city tree and the moss inside it do have some limitations there definitely is a certain level of pollution that the mosses wouldn't tolerate anymore we haven't installed city trees in areas where the pollution has been that high mainly because in europe there are no pollution hotspots that are that severe so we might have to take a look uh for instance to to asia to india or to china where much more severe pollution hotspots but i'm very certain that our technology would be able to adapt the mosses so that would they would be able to survive there as well green city solutions also offers a combination moss wall and lcd screen called city breeze that could be used to display things like advertisements or public service announcements the company is also developing a modular scalable moss wall design called wall breeze expected to be completed early next year so right now our business model focuses on selling a city tree and a one-off sale so we approach customers who are looking for a solution and then they have the possibility to to buy one city tree for let's say 40 to 50 000 euros but our business model is shifting in a sense that we now offer rental and then in the next step we plan to use the solution to combine it for instance with advertising or other revenue recurring revenue models so that recurring revenue finances the installation of the filter so in the end our goal is to make fresh air clean air free for all the residents and get the money from other sources so what's next for city tree our vision is that by 2030 so nine years we were able to compensate up to three million tons of carbon dioxide and our vision is climate infrastructure which spans over the city and collects information on the air pollution levels on the temperature and the humidity and with the climate infrastructure we are then able to target the pollution hotspots and the heat islands and improve the air quality hyperlocally for the people spending time in that zones what do you think of city tree would you want more moss growing in your community let us know down in the comments as always thanks so much for watching i'm your host jesse earl see you next time with the fam\n"