The wonders of modern technology. Thanks to some sort of new concrete developed in Italy, our air may be getting a whole lot cleaner. A spongy looking concrete creation that can be used on buildings and more importantly along highways as sound walls has proven to reduce pollution, sound and noise emanating from freeways and it may only be a matter of time before it becomes a regular component of the highway landscape.
With the proposed design, the barrier walls that commonly line American highways would be built porous like sponges, with holes of various sizes to create more surface area. The surface would be treated with a new photocatalytic cement that, in the presence of light, converts the noxious pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and others found in smog to salts.
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The porous design would reduce light and noise pollution as light and sound waves would be broken up by bouncing around inside the structure. Research in Italy has shown some promising, actually very promising, results from the concrete and researchers say that using the product on just 15 percent of an urban area could reduce pollution by half. That is some miraculously holy concrete.
· When concrete goes from gray to “green” [Independent Mail]