A Netherlands-based design firm has come up with a concept for a jacket which lights you up like a walking fireworks display if it detects air pollution. Nothing like looking a little dorky while trying to save the planet, but it’s certainly an interesting idea.
Dutch design duo Nieuwe Heren (“New Gents”) made the prototype “Aegis Parka” jacket with built-in sensors that can detect common pollutants in cities, including NH3, CO2 and benzene. When the sensors detect harmful pollutants in the air, a series of 40 LED lights spread out over the jacket start to light. The more severe the pollution, the more lights light up. Walking around L.A. wearing this coat? You’d probably be fully lit up. In addition there is a built-in respirator, which upon fitting over your mouth will filter your air through a carbon-activated filter.
The jacket is built with a fabric called schoeller-ceraspace – which is constructed out of ceramic particles – and it is coated with TiO2 (titanium dioxide) which can reduce concentrations of airborne pollutants in the air due to its photocatalytic properties. This is similar to the so-called “smog busting paint” called Ecopaint. The outside ceramic fabric layer is tougher than leather and the interior lining is full of “millions of microcapsules filled with phase changing materials (PCM)” which can moderate your body temperature, keeping you comfortable while you are wearing the parka.
While a definitely a cool take on the ever-popular military/industrial clothing look, one has to wonder: how bad would climate change and pollution have to get before you would wear one? If you’re a city dweller, maybe not all that long. So if you’re not ready to move to the country to escape all that polluted air, maybe you can eventually pick yourself up an Aegis Parka and be “lit up” next time the Air Quality Index is on the rise.
Source: DesignBoom via Stuff MidEast
Image Credit: DesignBoom