A competing technology? In Wired News: Scrubbing Bubbles Hit the Streets, the AP reports that Skanska is part of a joint $1.7 million Swedish-Finnish project to develop products that “clean” the air through a thin layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2). TiO2 when exposed to UV light reacts with molecules (including NOx) and breaks down pollutants into benign substances that include CO2, H2O, and nitrate salts.

The price is more costly than standard materials but is heralded to reduce damage of concrete or cement due to environmental conditions. Similar predicament that green roofs and porous pavements are in. How do you make technologies that benefit society affordable to developers?