This was fun: I opened up the Museum of Modern Art gift catalog yesterday and saw this on page 2, the Andrea Air Purifier. Instead of filters or electric charges, Matthieu Lehanneur’s machine from 2007 uses a live plant.
Once again I get the feeling that gardeners are way ahead of the curve. Plants to clean the air? Who’d have thought such a thing was possible?
And then there’s the matter of the price tag $199, plant not included. Yikes. But the manufacturer makes some claims about how the gizmo is lots more efficient than traditional purifiers or even plants:
Based on experiments performed by RTP Labs, Andrea improves the efficiency of formaldehyde removal from the air relative to plants alone by 360%. Relative to HEPA and carbon filters, comparison between the RTP Labs data and literature data show an improvement in formaldehyde filtration efficiency of 4400%. These data confirm that while plants alone in an interior setting are more efficient than HEPA and carbon filters at removing toxic gases from the air, they are significantly less efficient than Andrea. Even more important, the rate of gas removal by Andrea is, according to the RTP Labs data, over 1000% faster than for plants alone.
Much of the technological magic appears to be due a fan that circulates air around the plant and then into the room–something that you could probably rig up in the privacy of your own home. (Be prepared to water your plant more often.) As a fun piece of conceptual art that was part of MoMA’s Design and the Elastic Mind show, the price wouldn’t be that outrageous. But as a functional appliance I’d probably opt for a few little green machines, growing and photosynthesizing and blooming through the winter doldrum months…
So, you suggest a line of plants in the living room, with fans behind them? You know what we all need, is a special attached greenhouse where we can circulate air into and out of.
Stanley Kubrick, where are you?
James, This is hilarious. My local free weekly newspaper always carries a fake ad and has a contest to see who can spot it. It’s always something very silly. My first response to this device was, “It’s the fake ad!” I suppose for those addicted to gadgets, this is an improvement over those plug-in air “fresheners” (aka air polluters), but I think I’ll just stick with my unplugged houseplants.
Benjamin, when I was in gonzo greenhouse-growing mode 15 years ago I really loved to just hang in the greenhouse and smell the air. There was an amazing quality to it, and I don’t think it was mold spores…
Ricki, be sure not to name your plant “HAL”
Jean, this sure sounded like your “fake ad” when I first saw it. And really wild are these things that really are products. QVC has lots of those moments.
That is an outrageous price for a plant pot-even one with a fan. I’m wondering how their sales are.
Nasa has studied houseplants’ ability to “scrub the air” in space and have actually quantified the amount and which airborne gases individual species of houseplants can absorb. I read this research at the university–don’t remember the details now, but just having houseplants in your house can help clean the air of “offgassing” that occurs from household items like carpets, plastics, paints. No plant dome needed!
air purifiers would be a necessity if you have kids that are sensitive to pollen and dust~~-