Can Houseplants Really Clean the World's Smoggiest City?
CEO uses greenery to filter the filthy New Delhi air that doctors said was killing him.
The Great Energy Challenge Energy News
On the roof of an office building in India's capital, the world's smoggiest city, Kamal Meattle has a unique tactic for cleaning the air: a greenhouse with 400 common plants, including mother-in-law's tongue.
Meattle, the CEO of Paharpur Business Centre, has 800 other plants spread throughout the building's lower six floors, greening each room and hallway. Their job: remove soot and other chemicals from the often charcoal-colored outdoor air.
In India, where almost no one wears filter masks on the streets as many do in China, Meattle is seen as a radical. He says he's even been dubbed the Mad Hatter of Nehru Place, a high-tech hub that's home to his leafy building and an adjacent lot he converted from a slum into an oasis of 2,000 trees.
