Air pollution: Eleanor invents rucksack to filter air

Image source, Matt Alexander/PA Wire

Image caption, Eleanor hopes her rucksack will help people to "breathe better"

Eleanor is 12 years old, and has just created a solar-powered rucksack that filters polluted air.

She was inspired by her mum - who has asthma - to create something to help people breathe outside.

The rucksack was entered into the competition 'backpacks to the future' - and won!

Eleanor says the design is all about keeping her friends and family safe when out and about.

As she walks around wearing the rucksack, it filters and cleans the air for everyone.

The 'breathe better backpack'

Image source, Matt Alexander/PA Wire

Image caption, The rucksack is designed to reduce the impact of air pollution

After Eleanor entered her rucksack in for the 'backpacks to the future' competition, she won, and was presented with her own special design.

The rucksack has a cool blue design - Eleanor's choice - and you can see the special air filter which sits in the front small pocket.

"My generation is really aware of pollution and we have lessons on it at school along with diseases spreading, and this is another reason I designed this, because it is getting much worse" she says.

Eleanor lives on a busy main road, and says she can taste the petrol when cars drive past.

Through creating the rucksack, she wanted to make something that would make her daily walk safer not just for her, but her friends and family.

Super-powered by solar

Image source, Matt Alexander/PA Wire

Image caption, Check out Eleanor's design - she said the blue colour and the bubbles are inspired by the breathing idea

The rucksack's impressive design doesn't just stop at air-filtering - it's also powered by green energy!

To make the filter work, the rucksack uses solar power and a dynamo. The dynamo converts mechanical energy into electric energy, which powers the bag and cleans the air.

Eleanor's inspiration

Image source, Anastassiya Bezhekeneva

Image caption, Some of the symptoms of asthma can be relieved with an inhaler. Lots of people with asthma carry one around with them, or have one to use if they become unwell

Eleanor says that environmental activist Greta Thunberg is a big inspiration for her.

But as well as being aware of the air pollution she experiences when she walks to school, Eleanor also wanted to help her mum and her friends.

Her mum has asthma, and so do some of her friends, and during the coronavirus lockdown Eleanor became more aware of the worried they had about going outside.

She says they already have an air filter in their home to help with her mum's condition.

She hopes these rucksacks will be useful not just for people with asthma like her mum, but also to help prevent future pandemics, by reducing how much people can become infected through the air.