Pollution Domes! The Saviour of Beijing or a Gloomy Symptom of Environmental Woes?

Paper face masks and their more recently introduced heavy-duty version with filtration systems are a common sight throughout cities across China; the quality and pollution of air remaining a top concern for the general public and government alike. While air quality forecasts and climate change predictions cast a perpetual gloom across the country, efforts are well underway in preparation for an even foggier future.

Chinese megacities, such as the capital Beijing with its 21-million-strong population, have seen a major shift in attitude towards air quality, with a number of innovative projects and potential solutions emerging to not only tackle the pollution, but to make life healthier and easier within these polluted environments.

The era of the pollution domes

Avoiding the poisoned air is now a way of life in the Chinese capital, with dangerous air pollution levels posing a threat to public health and wellbeing. Inventive, high-tech architectural solutions are now playing a major role in this avoidance.

Pollution domes or air domes are balloon-like structures attached to existing buildings by airlock, simulating a normal breathing environment away from the polluted air outside. Beijing’s British School is the latest college to undergo the easy-breathing extension, following the lead of the International School of Beijing’s £3m pair of domes which include hospital-grade filtration systems, and the British private school Dulwich College which opened its pollution domes last year.

Air quality is a substantial concern for parents across China, and the pollution domes now offer a non-toxic learning environment for their children. “It’s a bit of a change having to go through an airlock on the way to class,” said the director of sports at the British School of Beijing, Travis Washko “But the kids love it, and parents can now rest assured their children are playing in a safe environment.”

The British School has also upgraded its filtration system throughout, including the installation of new over-door air curtains and almost 200 ceiling-mounted air purifiers.

The foggy future of China’s air pollution

With increasing pressure mounting on the Chinese government for immediate action, a number of new laws and legislations have been introduced, as well as environmental violation fine increases and attempts at shutting down high carbon-emitting factories.

However, Greenpeace East Asia’s lead campaigner on air pollution, Zhang Kai remains sceptical, saying “To be able to monitor these factories, local officials are supposed to visit them in person. But there is just no capacity to do that, and no policy in place to punish the polluting factories effectively.”

From ‘breathing bicycles’ and smog-sucking ‘electronic vacuum cleaners’ to pollution domes and cutting-edge filtration systems, the future of China’s air pollution problems may now depend on the innovative technologies and projects underway to transform the air quality of one of the world’s most polluted countries.

More from Beijing

We’ve covered countless news stories about Beijing recently. For example, did you know that it might not have safe air until 2030, that China has pledged to ban the use of high-polluting fuel types in Beijing by 2020 and Beijing’s pollution levels are so bad that residents watch sunrises and sunsets on huge digital screens throughout the city? 

For a more in-depth look at this topic, read: Air Pollution in China Today- Emissions, APC Equipment and the Effect of the 12th 5-Year Plan.