What is the Tree Pod?
The Tree Pod is a solar powered urban intervention, developed by my team and I at SHIFTboston, to remove large quantities of carbon from the air. Tree Pods will be particularly useful reducing the carbon build-up in dense urban environments unable to support substantial natural tree growth due to limited availability of open space, soil and water. Inspired by the dragon’s blood tree, an upright umbrella shape provides a vast surface area capable of hosting hundreds of solar cells to collect sunlight. Solar energy is converted to power within the tree, driving the carbon capture process within the trunk and branches. Excess power will light trees during the evening while also supporting integrated wi-fi and mobile device charging centers. The base of the Tree Pod also contains a fun interactive bouncing seat on which children and adults can harvest kinetic energy of their own.
Although they were developed for a parcel on RFK Greenway – a zone that cannot support real trees -- the Tree Pods are by no means specific to Boston. Since 2011, the synthetic trees have sparked inquiries from around the world and have been the focus of numerous research projects as far as Germany and Qatar.
The trees have been featured on CNN, Reuters, MSNBC and in publications such as the Wall Street and Clean India Journals. On November 1st 2015 Treepods were featured on the premiere of ‘Bill Nye’s Global Meltdown’ as part of a National Geographic Explorer series on Global Warming. Our most recent article was in the Washington Post last December.
Why is the Tree Pod important?
Pollution in cities will increase as energy consumption increases with the steady growth of the global population. The consequence of population growth and increased energy consumption means an increase in carbon dioxide, at much higher rates than we have ever seen. Global warming is of course a concern, but there are more problems associated with carbon dioxide, it actually makes our cities very unhealthy places to be. Over ten studies including recent research conducted at Stanford University, have signaled a direct link between health problems and environments with high levels carbon dioxide. Even with the latest technological advancements in clean energy, it will take upward of 40 years to eliminate the use of the biggest carbon dioxide contributor -- fossil fuels -- in transportation and energy production. Currently there are 6.7 billion people on the planet and 50% of them are living in cities. Projections show a population of 8.5 billion people on earth by the end of the next decade, yielding a 35% increase in energy consumption, meanwhile 80% of that population is expected to be living in the city.
For now we can’t deny it, carbon dioxide is on the rise in our cities, so we must reduce it to protect the health of our people along with our planet. The Tree Pod can help control this rise by reducing carbon emissions at a higher rate than real trees, making cities much healthier places to live.
How much carbon dioxide can a Tree Pod remove?
Tree Pods will process carbon at a higher rate than natural trees and through the use of solar energy, they will maintain a near-zero carbon footprint. Given the current technology we can estimate one Tree Pod to be capable of removing 100-300 lbs. of carbon from the air per day compared to a naturally occurring tree which removes approximately .13 lbs of carbon from the air per day.
How does the Tree Pod remove carbon:
There are system variables within the plan that need further evaluation, there are a two possible carbon capture systems we are considering and our job is to find the one that will work most efficiently in the Tree Pod.
The two systems are:
1. Carbon capture with alkaline hydroxide solution.
2. Carbon capture with solid sorbents and steam requiring an Amine enriched porous solid-phase material.
What is the plan for development?
I am in the process of receiving grant funding which will be used to fund an interdisciplinary integrated innovation lab within a university. This will be a yearlong lab spanning 2-3 semesters in which I will work with a team of students, faculty, and consultants with formalized expertise from specific departments. During the first and second phase, my team of students will develop a set of construction documents and product specifications that will be used to build an initial Tree Pod prototype. In the lab, our team will build simulation models to test systems and their performance while evaluating methods of production and construction. During this time, we will also construct numerous small-scale mock ups which will be studied carefully to identify the most efficient methods of production and potential distribution. At the end of this process we will have a set of documents, evaluation.
If you would like more information on this project, please click the contact button to the left to be directed to our inquiry page.