With environmental concerns becoming more and more important, we need to think about how we can reduce our electricity consumption. There is a natural way of enlightenment that has already been used by Native American people more than 6 centuries ago, it is bioluminescence.
Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism such as bioluminescent beetles that were used by Amerindians among others lighting or light signals.
Some companies like Glowee, a French biotechnology company, propose to use these bioluminescent living beings mainly from the sea to naturally light our homes or our cities.
Except in the depths of the sea, bioluminenscence is also found in certain bacteria and fungi. There are also experiments that have been done to transfer this type of genes to other organisms like plants. Moreover, this Dutch designer, Daan Roosegaarde, proposes that trees could possibly light our cities at night.
Obviously we are talking about a very soft light and a very small radiation, which corresponds more to a lighting type night light. Nevertheless, this possibility of using bioluminescent organisms as lighting in our cities is an interesting avenue since it could allow the considerable reduction of light pollution.
Here is a video that explains this phenomenon well: Bioluminescence and if lighting became alive – The MAG of science [fr].
Finally, some questions remain: how far do we accept that genetic modifications are made to apply these bioluminescent properties to other living organisms?
