The Climate Dress Lights Up in Pollution-Choked Areas

Talk about environmental chic! A design team in Denmark introduces the Climate Dress, which is laced with hundreds of tiny LEDs connected together with the help of a conductive thread, as well as a carbon-dioxide sensor and an Arduino Lilypad microprocessor.  Its embroidery method enables the dress to project light in different patterns depending on the amount of carbon dioxide in the air.  Environmentalists have linked CO2 with pollution and contributing to the Earth’s greenhouse effect, which in turn is connected with global warming.

The conductive thread used in embroidering the Climate Dress has the same consistency as traditional threads.  However, unlike in ordinary threads, the embroidery in the Climate Dress conveys electricity and computer information, thus giving "power" to the dress.  The light patterns range from slow pulses to rapid flashes, gauging the concentration of carbon dioxide in the surroundings.  Diffus, the team behind this concept, aims that the Climate Dress would create more awareness about environmental issues using aesthetical approaches. 

There is a nagging thought, though.  Although carbon dioxide has been found in polluted surroundings, large amounts of CO2 can also be found in rainforests as trees and plants "breathe in" the gas to survive.

We do not expect the Climate Dress to be produced in mass quantities, but it sure will look cool in a fancy club or in the next climate change meeting.

Image source:  Diffus

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