Created by the Italian company, Italcementi Group, the fifth largest cement producer in the world, TX Active is a truly revolutionary new building material that is literally paving the way to a greener future...by "eating" smog. It’s clear that Hong Kong’s dense concrete jungle - where in January of this year smog reached levels ten times above the World Health Organisation guidelines for clean air - could benefit greatly from the use of such a product.
TX Active was first produced for American architect Richard Meier, who approached the Italcementi Group in 1996 to develop a new type of cement that would help keep the Jubilee Church he was designing in Rome clean and white. Head of Research and Development Enrico Borgarello came up with the idea of adding titanium dioxide, a photo-catalyzer used to make paints bright white to standard cement. TX Active took ten years to develop, and its pollution-fighting properties were only discovered after it had been made.
Research has shown that the titanium dioxide in TX Active eliminates organic and inorganic atmospheric pollutants (such as car exhaust fumes) when it is exposed to light (either sunlight or artificial light). It breaks down toxic nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides, for instance, into harmless components that simply wash off in the rain. Not only is a surface paved in TX Active pollution busting but it is also self-cleaning, helping paint colours stay bright and last longer. Also found in cosmetics and food colouring, titanium dioxide can be added to paint, plaster and paving for roads. It was nominated by TIME magazine as one of the best inventions of 2008.
“In a large city such as Milan, researchers have calculated - on the basis of test results - that covering 15 percent of visible urban surfaces with products containing TX Active would enable a reduction in pollution of approximately 50 percent,” the Italcementi Group claims on its website www.italcementigroup.com. The amount of pollution reduced in any one area depends on how many surfaces are paved with TX Active, in addition to the weather and light conditions. Pollution is eliminated most effectively within 8.2 feet of a surface containing TX Active.
This is food for thought in Hong Kong, where in January, the local media reported that levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide were five times the World Health Organisation annual guidelines. In addition, the Headley Environmental Index showed that in the beginning of February, Hong Kong’s air pollution was, in relation to its impact on public health, estimated to have cost the SAR HK$230 million since the start of the year.
The Italcementi Group says that TX Active can even make the air smell better. The company reportedly coated a road with a layer of its product in the heart of its hometown of Bergamo, and residents within 4.5 square miles noted that the air was much "fresher".
Making the planet a better place always comes at a cost - TX Active is estimated to be about ten times more expensive than normal cement. However, the Italcementi Group says that only a thin layer of the product is needed for surface areas that are exposed to the atmosphere. It also estimates that TX Active could raise the value of a property by as much as 20 percent.
Hopefully, local developers will recognise that this is a small price to pay to give our lungs a break, and perhaps in the near future the only thing taking our breath away will be the beauty of Hong Kong’s skyline and not the smog that all too often clouds it.
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