Chinese man with bizarre plan involving 1.5 million people and handheld fans to tackle city smog seeks patent
From "smog corridors" to smog-cleaning bicycles, China has seen some unusual proposals to clean up smog.
However, there's one patent-seeker among them with a plan that really blows.
If approved, the "fan-away smog plan" could perhaps one day see up to 1.5 million people in Beijing blowing smog from the city using hand-held fans, the Legal Daily reported.
Its inventor surnamed Du filed an application with the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) in March in the hopes of making his "fan fiction" become reality.
According to Du's calculations, the plan could generate enough pressure to move more than 1 trillion cubic meters of air over the distance of one meter - enough to disperse Beijing's smog.
All its takes is 1.5 million residents fanning at the same time in one direction for an hour.
According to the patent application, the force of fans could be organized through TV, radio and SMS alerts, and government or other organizations could hand out fans at designated spots.
Du touted the method as a low-cost, effective solution to China's smog problem.
However, it seems unlikely Du will have his day. A SIPO official said that the application is in the initial stages and not under "essential review," which could take up to 18 months.
Most applications do not make it past this stage, the official said.
