Green Power: Air Quality Systems

Blame the weather: according to studies, the average Canadian spends over 80% of their lives indoors – at home and at the workplace. And risk to our health is only a breath away. The air that we inhale everyday is a source of growing concern – with indoor air shown to contain a rising tide of toxic chemicals, particles, and biological contaminants – further concentrated by lack of air circulation. The poor quality of our indoor air is a frontline environmental issue that affects us all.

What can we do? The answer is: plenty. Perhaps the most innovative solution comes from nature itself – using plants as organic biofilters to clear the air. This is the concept behind a unique Canadian product, Naturaire®: a Living Wall of sub-tropical plant life designed to filter and purify the air in our homes, offices and industrial workplaces. These self-sustaining plant ecosystems can effectively remove up to 90% of over 500 different kinds of biological pollutants from the air – with no trace or waste left behind.

Naturaire® is a proudly homegrown technology with its roots in Ontario, developed by researcher, Dr. Alan Darlington, and his group at the University of Guelph. The most effective indoor environmental biofiltration system on the planet, Dr. Darlington raised his Living Wall from seed to marketplace with the guiding hand of Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).

The Naturaire® System The Naturaire® Living Wall works on the principle of vertical hydroponics. Sub-tropical plants are mounted on a porous rock substrate with air flowing through it; the microbes, present in the plant root systems, instantly consume the organic compounds in the air. Dr. Darlington emphasizes the critical role played by the microbes: “People always assumed it was the plants that were cleaning the air and the reality is not so much – the plants create an environment where they nurture the beneficial microbes that actually do the dirty work. By putting the plants in, the system actually self-regulates.” Biofiltration can be effective in virtually any occupied space – from agricultural and industrial applications to household units. AQS is currently marketing Naturaire® systems of varying scales for the corporate, industrial and home market.

Good ideas growing.

The concept of a ‘Living Wall’ originates in the concrete jungle of Toronto – in a boardroom at the offices of Canada Life Insurance. The boardroom features a most unusual feature: a hydroponic wall of mosses, ferns, orchids, and sub-tropical plants – the work of Guelph University professor, Dr. Mike Dixon. The Living Wall was an early experiment in green technology devised by Dr. Dixon – installed with the backing of OCE’s Centre for Earth and Environmental Technologies. The Wall has proven to be a great success over the past ten years; the plant system effectively cleans and filters the air while also presenting a lush and exotic environment for corporate meetings.

This visionary idea might never have left the boardroom were it not for Dr. Alan Darlington, an adjunct professor from Guelph. Dr. Darlington, a researcher with outstanding scientific merit, was supported by OCE to further study and maintain the plant wall. Convinced of the Living Wall’s greater potential, he knew it needed considerable adaptation to grow any further: “The Canada Life room was a great place for proof-of-concept but we came up with a set of modifications which meant that all of a sudden, it was applicable to the real world.”

The professor was keen to follow through on the concept and OCE encouraged him to apply for the Martin Walmsley Fellowship for Technological Entrepreneurship, a two-year, $100,000 fellowship awarded to exceptional innovators in Ontario’s science community. Dr. Darlington won the 2001 Walmsley award – which provided him with the seed capital to form Air Quality Solutions (AQS): “Getting the Walmsley Fellowship gave me the opportunity to start the company and begin the process of the movement from experiment to the marketplace. “

Climbing the Wall.

With the investment support, Dr. Darlington could now focus his expertise on product refinement and the logistics of building a business from the ground up. By his own admission, more academic than business-minded, the professor looked to the OCE business development team for guidance through the entire process: “They have been very helpful – walking me and the group through all the critical steps: licensing agreements, structure, market development, market surveys. OCE has been very involved, even coming up with the business plan. The mentoring has been just as valuable as any funding.”

With that initial impetus, AQS has since gone on to successfully install over 15 large-scale Naturaire® Living Walls in office buildings and universities throughout Ontario and the U.S. And they continue to attract considerable media attention and interest from corporate, household and industrial clients. Two recent biofilter installations at Guelph and Queen’s University were recognized with the 2005 Award of Excellence from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada for innovation in architecture.

Office Cleaning. Industrial Strengths.

The Naturaire® solution not only helps to save our environment. It also helps us to save on energy bills – especially for office buildings sealed from the outside world. Using current technologies, these buildings must constantly bring fresh air from outside into the building to replenish air quality. That air must be heated or cooled before it can enter the building. Naturaire® reduces the amount of fresh air needed because it can filter and recirculate the same air supply – slashing energy bills in the process. In fact, based on its operation during the ten warmest and coldest days of the year alone, the system pays for itself. It also holds great potential to clear up the urban blight of ‘Sick building syndrome’.

Dr. Darlington’s latest project sees him returning to OCE to prepare a Market Readiness plan: this time for a pilot project with Toyota Canada. He is contracted to build a prototype bio-chamber for a Toyota factory in Cambridge, Ontario, to test its efficacy to reduce smells and fumes in the automotive paint shop. If successful, this project could well open the doors for the Naturaire® technology to be applied in similar industrial settings.

Meanwhile on the home front, AQS is meeting with developers to promote the installation of biofilters in new condominiums. His proposal is for a system that occupies a space no larger than a fish tank.

Now actively taking on the marketplace, Dr. Darlington credits OCE with key support in both research and business. “It’s not just coming up with the idea, but what you do with it. OCE sees both innovation and business development as equal partners.” This vital combination makes all the difference for a brilliant environmentally friendly concept – engineered to succeed and destined to grow.