University of Engineering and Technology of Peru creates billboards that produce drinkable water and purify the air
Digital Reporter
Wednesday, May 7, 2014, 7:30 PM - Innovation and a desire to do good have come together in a spectacular way. Researchers at the University of Engineering and Technology of Peru (UTEC) have created billboards that are capable of converting moisture particles into drinking water and purifying the air.
The researchers collaborated with Mayo DraftFCB advertising agency to come up with the unique ideas.
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The first billboard takes humid air, processes it through a filtration system and converts it into drinking water.
Courtesy: UTEC
It can produce 96 liters of water a day during summer, generating an astonishing 9,450 liters for Barranco, the community that houses it, in three months' time.
The billboard was designed to counteract the construction toll the university placed on the community when it began building a campus there.
UTEC hopes it will serve to inspire people to "seek practical solutions to world problems through engineering".
The billboard was a smash hit, prompting the university to design another.
The air purifying billboard is the second in the series, and it's capable of purifying 100,000 cubic metres of air each day. That's roughly the equivalent work of 1,200 trees.
According to the university the panel cleans the air for a radius of five blocks.
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"We seek to demonstrate that engineering is behind it all, and what better way to also show [that] our advertising changes the world, helps the community and cares for the environment ," Jessica Rúas, Director of Promotion for UTEC, said in a statement.
