CityBreeze Injects ‘Invisible’ Towers of Moss into Urban Settings

Ever stroll through a train station and pass a digital kiosk or advertising board? It’s a common facet of city life now, as ubiquitous as the cars and people. For a while, though, their use has mostly been for just advertising or information. Well, that’s something CityBreeze is looking to change in an altogether unexpected way.

Combining BrightSign’s media players and Green City Solutions’ biotech systems, CityBreeze is a digital out-of-home (DOOH) media solution that purifies and cools the air surrounding it using moss. Behind the 75” LCD screen, which is controlled by a BrightSign H224 media player, lies a substantial network of the green stuff that attracts and breaks down harmful carbon and nitrogen oxides while evaporating water across its surface to cool the localized air.

“Combining digital out-of-home (DOOH) functionality with our biotech system for producing fresh, breathable air has put a compelling environmental product within the reach of many more city authorities than would otherwise be the case,” explains Simon Dierks, Marketing Lead for Green City Solutions.

“It greatly simplifies the planning process and makes it much faster. Every town already has fixed locations for OOH screens, and they need to be replaced every eight to 10 years. When that happens, upgrading to a unit that also purifies the air and reduces the ambient temperature instead of increasing it makes a lot of sense.”

BrightSun Provides Performance without Contradicting the End Goal

On average, the lifecycle of the CityBreeze is around 10 years, during which the product is relatively low maintenance.

In creating the product, flexibility and ease of use with the media portion were vital, which is why Green City chose to work with BrightSun media players.

“The easier the management platform is to use, the more interesting and dynamic the content is likely to be,” says Dierks. “We want to remove as many barriers as possible to maximize the benefits. We provide content-creation services for clients as needed.”

Additionally, the BrightSun player is easily integrated into the casing of the CityBreeze and CityTree products, allowing for a slimmer design, which then lends itself to more flexible installations. This is thanks to the fanless design of the players, feeding into yet another aspect of the final product: the cooling. Because the player generates such little heat, there’s next to no impact on the moss’s performance.

A High Impact Replacement for a Standard Fixture in Cities

The flagship CityTree provides a larger surface area for the moss, while also introducing charging, seating and shade options.

According to Green City Solutions, each CityBreeze is capable of filtering 50,000 cubic feet of air per hour, while also reducing the surrounding temperature by up to 7 degrees Fahrenheit. The moss meanwhile, is kept alive using smart IoT technology, which displays real-time air data on the signage itself. In fact, education and transparency are a sizeable part of CityBreeze.

“Ten percent of the media run-time on the digital screens is reserved for explaining how the moss system works and the health and environmental benefits it brings,” continues Dierks. “The rest can be used for commercial content or anything else. In Luton town centre, for example, the Borough Council has taken the opportunity to highlight local green initiatives as well as real-time air quality data.”

This also holds true for the CityTree, Green City’s original flagship product. Boasting a much larger surface area for filtration and cooling, the city tree also comes with a wealth of customization options. In addition to an optional 43” LCD screen, the tower model can be fitted with e-charging, information boards, seating, shading and smart services, with Wi-Fi hotspots being planned in the future.

Both can be installed virtually anywhere there is a power supply, with prominent use cases being city centers and train stations. Dierks, however, says the device has the power to excel wherever information displays are needed in high-traffic spaces. Conference centers and commercial venues immediately come to mind.

But, ideally, Dierks says, the best place to put them is where they’ll have the greatest impact on public health, with locations where human and vehicle traffic intermingle being a standout example. “If you have the option of a digital screen that is cleaning and cooling the air around it rather than heating it up more, why wouldn’t you go for that?”