Monday, March 28, 2016

Microbe-Powered Nightlights

Increasing electricity consumption has proved to be a problem as the use of electricity creates a need for fuel that affects the environment in devastating way.  A company named Glowee in Paris, France is working to reduce the electricity consumption.  The company is developing a way to brighten cities at night using glow-in-the-dark bacteria instead of electric light bulbs.  Glowee developed lights made of small, see through cases that contain a type of non-harmful marine microbe known as Alivibrio fischeri.  This microbe is normally found living inside light-emitting organs on the skin of an underwater species called the Hawaiian bobtail squid. 

The light cases contain a nutrient-rich gel for the microbes to feed on, and they are now able to stay lit for three days at a time.  Currently the company is working to keep the lights on for a month or longer.  The company’s goal is to try to reduce the 19 percent of electricity consumption used to produce light as well as reduce the light pollution from the light of human-made sources that obscures objects in the night sky and which can affect animals’ natural cycles.  Although the lights are not very bright yet and are not able to stay on for too long, the company is still working on the product, and hopes to illuminate sidewalks, storefronts, and signs all by 2017.         

Abbasi, Jennifer. "Microbe-Powered Nightlights". Scienceworld.scholastic.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/85598.aspx

Yustina Kang (Group 2) 

5 comments:

  1. This is such a cool idea! If the researchers found a way to extend the life of the microbe so it could stay illuminated longer this would be great for both the environment and for future discoveries in science. I wonder if there are any other marine mammals that contain a similar light-containing microbe that could potentially last longer.

    Posted by: Ashley Geary

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  2. This is a great idea. Illuminating streets using non harmful marine microbes may help in reducing pollution. How strong is that light definitely depends on the amount of microbes present in the light bulb, but if scientist figured out how to extend microbes life it will be cool.

    Mohammed Saleh

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    1. I definitely would like to see if scientists would be able to make the lights last for even one year or more, and how they will be able to maintain the life of the microbes to be able to continuously produce light.
      Yustina (Group 2)

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  3. This is definitely a cool idea, but I believe bio-luminescent lighting has a long way to go before it can be used in practical appliances. In my opinion, there isn't a huge ecological difference between powering your streetlight with electricity or having to physically "feed" your streetlight. Each requires resources, and for now, electricity remains the better choice. It will be interesting to see how common bio-luminescent lighting will become in the distant future though.

    Bradley Sarasin (Group 3)

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    1. I am also interested in seeing how bioluminescent lighting will be incorporated in the future. To address your point about the ecological difference between electricity or “feeding your streetlight”, I believe the use of microbes would be more effective as the extremely small size and therefore the small amount of resources necessary to keep the microbes alive is much smaller than the negative effects that powering electricity has on the environment and the amount of resources that electric generating uses.

      Yustina (Group 2)

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