Plants are well known to reduce pollution but choosing the right variety in gardens or fields can make up to 1,000 times greater difference, says a scientist who is co-founder of a green gardening project.

Knowing the right plant to use can help in the battle against global warming but also in poorer areas of the world, reduce food shortages and create a healthier environment, says Ecobubble co-founder Nicola Nescatelli.

It is so much more than simply having more greenery to help the environment and technology can play a massive role in increasing efficiency.

"We have a database with something like 6,000 plants, of course it depends on what kind of environment you have, what kind of pollutants you have," said Dr Nescatelli.

"For example you can use some plants on the ground but you have to change plants if you are 30 metres high because the pollutants change, or maybe you have different climate and you have to use some other plants. We are very specific depending on the pollutants, contaminants or environmental conditions. 

"There is not one or 10 single plants we have a database with around 6,000 plants and also we have more or less most of the European climatic zone (...) we have the ability to select the plants in different types of cities, so we don't have just a list, you have to be more specific eg in London we have say these pollutants and so we select a number of plants to absorb these."

Ecobubble began life as a 'start-up' business which would put science at the heart of the way people chose which plants to pick so that they are the most environmentally friendly.

When choosing plants everything needs to be considered from the soil and climatic conditions to the type of pollution which is affecting an area.

"You can arrive up to 1,000 percent better (at removing pollutants) using different kinds of plants," said Dr Nescatelli.

"It depends on what kind of pollutants we are talking about, for example if you have metals in the soil there exist some plants which are called hyperaccumulators - which are 800 times better than usual kinds of plants (at removing the pollutant) so it's a huge difference.

He continued: "Of course it depends on what situation you have, they are plants so they are complex, it's not like, say, looking a smart phones and saying which is better because it depends on what conditions you have or pollutions you have, but of course you can be very efficient in doing this kind of design."

Dr Nescatelli and his colleagues at Ecobubble won an international contest run by the European Space Agency, that was open to ideas for bioregenerative schemes using technology, for their pollution control project.

They have now also designed an environmentally friendly garden for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome and internationally they have pre-agreements for projects in the Netherlands and the United States.

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New technology means that people can know exactly how much water to use, so none is wasted, and tilting panels can also be used to maximise the amount of sun.  

Dr Nescatelli said that the potential for using technology with plants goes far beyond smart gardens in cities but can also help provide better living conditions for people in the poorest areas of the world.

"You have a huge number of poor countries that use urban farming to live, not just for fun like you have in other cities, but to live, and you have 95 percent of people living in pollutant zones, with polluted soil," he said.

"Imagine if you can clean the soil with plants so that they can have clean food, and they don't have to pay a lot because plants the cost of them (is not high).

"It is easy, more or less, for all the people so you can reduce the pollution in the food production and so it could be very important not only for the smart city targets but also for the poor countries to create more quality food."