The NEO P1
by Neoplants
The term ground-breaking is one thrown around far too much these days, but the “product” I’m about to introduce is exactly that—quite literally too.
While there has understandably been much focus on the macro-climate in recent times, there has perhaps been a bit too little on the micro-climate. By starting with the home, French bioengineering company Neoplants may well have found the solution to both.
Studies show1 that the air in our homes is actually 5 times more polluted than the air outside due to what are known as Volatile Organic Compounds (or VOCs). These molecules include some of the most carcinogenic in the world and are unknowingly emitted by furnishings, textiles, cleaning solvents and varnishes, and in other ways that most of us are completely unaware of. These VOCs can lead to asthma2, allergies, and cancer3 among others illnesses.
Neo P1 has been bioengineered to efficiently capture and recycle the 4 most dangerous VOCs: formaldehyde, benzene, toluene and xylene.
While houseplants do help with certain pollutants, and traditional air purifiers do help with particulate matter, neither of them combat VOCs and neither are very efficient. To give context, the bioengineered Neo P1 is 30 times more effective than a traditional houseplant when it comes to air purifying capacity and has zero power consumption unlike the air purifier. It also recycles the pollutants into useful metabolites whereas a traditional houseplant merely stores them.
Neoplants achieve this is two ways; the metabolism engineering and microbiome engineering of a houseplant called Epipremnum aureum—also known as Golden Pothos—to create a new variety of superplant. They have also created a microbiome topical treatment called Neoplants Power Drops, that you periodically add to the soil to enhance Neo P1’s evolutionarily-directed microbiome, and helps to maintain its high-level purification performance.
“Our passion is to put nature at the heart of innovation to drive positive change.”
Lionel Mora, Co-Founder & CEO, Neoplants
We’ve looked in many places for solutions to thwart the impact of climate change but, as is often the case, nature itself could harbour the very answers we’ve been looking for. Through their progress with Neo P1, Neoplants have found other solutions that could help magnify the power of plants to heal our environment, in a climate change solution.
Whether they succeed in achieving that or not is yet to be seen, but the arrival of the Neo P1 marked step in the right direction, and a potentially life-saving one at that.
