A Street Lamp That Doubles as a Mosquito Trap

The best new mosquito trap might come in the form of a street light. The Eco-Greenergy street lamp is an outdoor LED lamp that puts out a little bit of carbon dioxide to lure mosquitos, then sucks them into a net.

The technology, developed at the University of Malaya in Malaysia, might help reduce mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria by killing mosquitos before they have the chance to bite. The carbon dioxide, which mosquitos think is from their next meal’s breath, comes the reaction between the ultraviolet light and titanium dioxide, a chemical that coats certain parts of the lamp. The fan that sucks mosquitos into the trap produces suction that also keeps them from escaping. 

A pilot program of eight lights is currently being tested on and around the campus of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, and the creators hope to begin selling the product in the near future. The cost of replacing all the street lamps in areas ravaged by dengue fever is expected to be much less than the cost of the disease. By one estimate, the cost of dengue in Malaysia alone, where around 10,000 people are treated for it annually, is around $13 million a year. Across Asia, the cost of dengue is estimated to be around $2 billion.

[h/t: The Guardian]