Sustainable infrastructure for better well-being
By Ula Renetskis, Xwhy / Agency of Understanding
To reduce carbon emissions and air pollution, Mexico City constructed a hospital building that eats the city’s smog called the Manual Gea Gonzalez Hospital. This innovation reduces air pollution when the sun’s UV rays excite the electrons of the 20-nanometer TiO2 particles on the infrastructure, breaking down nitrogen oxides and VOCs on contact, creating a byproduct of water and a small amount of calcium nitrate (a common ingredient in fertilizer) that washes away with rain.
(1) This sustainable infrastructure enforces the four sustainability pillars, creating equity between economic, social, environmental, and health systems. By reducing air pollution, it creates a cleaner environment and reduces the impact of climate change; the goal of this building and others to come is to counteract the impact of about 1,000 of Mexico City’s 5.5 million cars and provide slightly fresher air in the hospital’s immediate area.
(2) By reducing CO2 emissions and cleaning the air, it also promotes health for humans and the earth by reducing the greenhouse gas effect and respiratory health risks. This building also creates a stronger economic system for Mexico City by ringing in income for the creation, design, and construction of this infrastructure along with its attractiveness to tourists. This promotes overall of the world’s social equity by implementing this design in Mexico City, giving the idea for other cities to take for developing cleaner, healthier, and less air-polluted societies. Citizens and local governments must be empowered with the best possible information to anticipate the impacts of and build resilience to climate change,
(3) which aids in the development and growth of each of the four pillars for Mexico City and society in general. The Manual Gea Gonzalez Hospital positively impacts the world by empowering these concepts.
Work Cited
- http://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/detail/fighting-a-megacitys-pollution-with-mega-panels_o
- http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/smog-eating-buildings-battle-air-pollution-180954781/?no-ist
- https://us130urbansustainability.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/harnessing-the-data-revolution-for-urban-sustainability-and-resilience-dipnote.pdf
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