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Poo-Powered 'Glowing' Bacteria to Light Up Your Home, Now

by Nancy Needhima on Dec 7 2011 11:03 PM

A bio-light devised by A Dutch based electronics company, will provide any room in the house with a warm, cosy glow powered by recycled household waste.

Poo-Powered `Glowing` Bacteria to Light Up Your Home, Now
A "bio-light" devised by A Dutch based electronics company, will provide any room in the house with a warm, cosy glow powered by recycled household waste.
The lamp, developed by Philips, consists of a series of glass chambers and provides light using the same bioluminescent method as fireflies and glowworms.

The glass jars contain bioluminescent bacteria that emit a green glow when fed methane gas which, in this concept model is pumped into the lighting unit through a household waste digester.

According to Jim Haseloff, a plant biologist at Cambridge University, the model is an important development in the search for sustainable light sources.

"It's appealing because it brings two things together which you wouldn't normally associate," the Daily Mail quoted him as telling CNN.

"I don't think you want to imagine that everyone's going to start putting bacterial cultures into their own home for lighting, but as a way of exploring the idea it's quite interesting.

"When you move out of the normal area - illuminating walkways and things like that - where things could essentially be growing and delivering light for free, that's where you're going to have applications," he said.

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Philips believes the technique could be adapted to illuminate roadside verges with glowing plants.

"Energy-saving light bulbs will only take us so far. We need to push ourselves to rethink domestic appliances entirely, to rethink how homes consume energy, and how entire communities can pool resources," Clive van Heerden of Philips Design, said.

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'Designers have an obligation to understand the urgency of the situation, and translate humanity's needs into solutions," he added.

Source-ANI


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