CAPE TOWN - A lamp has been created that can harness energy from a living plant through photosynthesis.
A Dutch entrepreneur and Designer, Ermi van Oers and her team in collaboration with Plant-e, have created the lamp called Living Light. The long-term goal of this lamp is to power cities with green energy harnessed by plants.
Living Light was built to be a self-sufficient power source in no need of electric sockets. As an off-grid light source, the lamp has the potential to help millions of people around the world who do not have reliable or environmentally safe sources of energy.
How it works:
1. It all starts with the photosynthetic process which allow plants to grow.
2. Plants generate protons and electrons which can create electricity.
3.The system is a form of solar energy on a very natural level. The plant, encased in a glass tube, lights up when someone touches it.
The team is working on applying systems that can operate on a large scale. Currently, The design for the Living Light lamp can only produce about half an hour’s worth of light after the plant can “recharge” for a day.