An invisible forest embraces the Mont Blanc cable car

Virtual trees and an invisible forest. All on Mont Blanc, between two thousand and over four thousand metres above sea level. We are not talking about AI, but about the potential of technology dedicated to improving air quality and, of course, a good marketing coup.

Mont Blanc therefore now has 142 more trees, but not in the literal sense of the word. These are in fact trees invisible to the human eye, the result of an innovative environmental intervention by Skyway Mont Blanc called 'Invisible Wood'. The project is the result of a collaboration between Acrobatica, an international company specialising in exterior renovation, headed by Anna Marras, and REair, an eco-technology company for air purification, headed by Raffaella Moro. The Skyway Monte Bianco is the Italian cableway lift located in Valle d'Aosta that allows you to reach the closest point to the summit of Mont Blanc, starting at 1,300 metres in Courmayeur and arriving at 3,466 metres at Punta Helbronner.

For the second year running, Acrobatica was commissioned to carry out maintenance and cleaning work on the Skyway Mont Blanc structures, using a cutting-edge nanotechnology coating called eCoating, patented by REair. This transparent, ecological and 100% green coating was applied to over 600 square metres of external surfaces between the Pavillon at 2,173 metres and Punta Helbronner at 3,466 metres. Through a photocatalysis process, which uses light and air, eCoating decomposes pollutants in the air, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and organic PM dust, transforming them into harmless substances such as salts, carbon dioxide and water. The effect of this technology is equivalent to that produced by 142 deciduous trees, which can eliminate up to 59 kilograms of NOx per year (the NOx abatement rate was calculated according to the UNI 11484 test method, for a daily average of 8 hours of solar radiation).

"We are proud to have contributed to an initiative as significant for the environment as Skyway's,' comments Jacopo Rossi, Acrobatica's sales manager for Northern Italy. Our partnership with REair was born precisely to promote the use of this technology. We started from the roof of Europe and now we are ready to create virtual forests all over Italy'.

"The collaboration with Acrobatica," adds Nicola Parenti, co-founder of REair, "was aimed at realising extraordinary projects to improve air quality and reduce environmental impact. We couldn't have asked for anything better than to demonstrate the effectiveness of our technology on a cutting-edge structure like Skyway Monte Bianco, a symbol of Made in Italy. This intervention demonstrates that REair technology is versatile and can be applied in any context, from large urban centres to accommodation facilities in natural environments of incomparable beauty, which can serve as an example for a careful and respectful use of our extraordinary natural heritage".