Eco Roof Tiles Eat Smog, New Roofing Material for Modern Eco Homes

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New roofing material for eco homes that clean urban ar pollution

New eco friendly roof tiles can oxidize nitrogen oxides, which form the smog in large cities when released in the air. Innovative roof material helps to clean the air and breath easier by redusing the amount of harmful air pollutants.

Green technology is used for creating eco friendly products and make roofs a house exterior design element that cleans the air. US company Boral Roofing, based in Los Angeles, introduced a line of eco friendly roof tiles that have pollution busting properties.

The roof tiles are coated with titanium dioxide, a photocatalyst that can oxidize harmful air pollutants emitted in the burning of fossil fuels. When exposed to natural light, the titanium dioxide breaks down nitrogen oxides in the air and turns them into harmless calcium nitrate, offering a new roofing material for green building.

Roofing material for modern eco homes

Calcium nitrate washes off a house roof with normal precipitation and is a regular garden fertilizer, – said John Renowden, the vice president of technology at Boral Roofing.

He notes that the new roofing material typically makes roof design more expensive, adding between $600-$1000 US to the price of tiling an average roof.

He adds that over a one year period, the tiles on a 2,000 sq/ft house can oxidize nitrogen oxides equivalent to driving 10,000 miles a year in your car.

This green technology originates in Japan and has been adopted in Europe by a number of industries after 2005.

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In the last few years, this new green building material has been used in the production of several eco friendly products, including eco-friendly cement, architectural panels and paints.

Tests in urban settings determined that some pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, which are a major pollutant contained in exhaust gases, could be reduced by 20-70% by using these eco friendly products, according to the European Commission Environmental Technologies Action Plan.

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The combination of the eco friendly roofing material, used for creating new roof tile designs, with effective ways of cleaning up the sources of urban air pollution are the best way to tackle the air pollution problem.

  by Ena Russ   
  last updated: 08.05.2012