#TIL: Reinventing the wheel to make mobility carbon negative

By Roshan Toshniwal

The Climate emergency has accelerated governments to proactively advocate for active and sustainable transport solutions to decarbonise the sector by 2050. While averting emission by increasing mode share of walking, cycling and electric shared mobility is good, cleaning the air on the move will be great.

Afforestation is a natural carbon sequestration process, but accelerated adoption of ‘Negative Emission Technologies (NET)’ is necessary to keep the Paris Agreement. In mobility, the concept of Oxygene tyre by Goodyear with living moss inside the sidewall when used with Electric Vehicles has a potential to be NET. While the ROLLOE ‘Roll off Emission’ tyre using biodegradable HEPA filters for bicycles is already a prototype.

Unlike other Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) technology, ROLLOE is pedal powered and has converging functions as it cleans up air while mobilising people and keeping them healthy. While cities are investing in public realm with stationary benches that can clean air in a small perimeter, development and adoption of such technology in mobility can clean the city while moving people.

Carbon capture and storage at source in industries is still a novel technology and innovative emission control devices are used to upcycle captured carbon into useful products such as soda ash. Converting the combustion engine exhaust to ink and paint is a carbon capture of spent fuel at source and is regarded as carbon dioxide reduction technology.

While the ‘New Energy vehicle’ technology may reduce emissions, reinventing the wheel can amend the environmental damage caused by transportation making mobility carbon negative.

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