MIT Wants to Replace Desk Lamps with Glowing Plants

Megalith

Megalith

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Lighting your home or office when it's dark outside requires artificial light typically powered by electricity, which costs money every time you use it. But what if instead you could rely on a plant as a light source? That's exactly what engineers at MIT are trying to create.

By embedding specialized nanoparticles into the leaves of a watercress plant, they induced the plants to give off dim light for nearly four hours. They believe that, with further optimization, such plants will one day be bright enough to illuminate a workspace. “The vision is to make a plant that will function as a desk lamp — a lamp that you don’t have to plug in. The light is ultimately powered by the energy metabolism of the plant itself.”
 
And water and the act of watering is apparently free? Never mind the install space and ongoing maintenance of the plant to prune and replant it.
 
Abraham Lincoln would be proud.

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Many businesses actually already have plant services in their offices already. In some of the offices I've been in, I would periodically see someone roaming around the office floor with a watering can, looking after the plants.

Sure, it may not be zero cost. But it does introduce new positives that a bulb hasn't. Like helping with air circulation/recycling. Or adding to the aesthetic of the workplace, which can help with morale!

MV75 said:
And water and the act of watering is apparently free? Never mind the install space and ongoing maintenance of the plant to prune and replant it.
Click to expand...
 
I know of some plants that if inhaled, consumed or injected can make things brighter.
 
Trying to remember which game I played - possibly Skyrim? When you were underground, there were glowing fungi on the walls that provided your light source.
With LED lights, power consumption is greatly reduced. I salute their research, but you don't have to water an LED light and it uses very little electricity. Besides, I worked at a job once that had plants. We used to get visited by these tiny flying gnats - being programmers, we used to think it was amusing to debug the situation. Nothing worse than trying to concentrate and have one of these gnats get in your face. Used to piss me off.
So, if the gnats ate the glowing plants, I wonder if they would glow...
 
Gigus Fire said:
Yeah, this would be great. I'm sure it won't cross pollinate with other plants and weeds and suddenly your neighbors unkempt lawn is glowing all night long.
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You say that as if living in James Cameron's fever dream would be a bad thing...
 
BloodyIron said:
Many businesses actually already have plant services in their offices already. In some of the offices I've been in, I would periodically see someone roaming around the office floor with a watering can, looking after the plants.

Sure, it may not be zero cost. But it does introduce new positives that a bulb hasn't. Like helping with air circulation/recycling. Or adding to the aesthetic of the workplace, which can help with morale!
Click to expand...

Yea, those people are even less skilled than the janitor. :) Very rough and ready. But also how about the actual light? Would it be harsher to work under than a traditional light? Would you like to be the guy that is right next to these or away under an led? What about the actual metabolism emissions? Stinky plants? :)
 
I can hear it now.... Honey, please turn off your plants and come to bed. Sheesh.
 
Um very unclear about this. The video shows the plants being bathed in pressurized tanks to achieve the effect. How would that work out once the chemicals are used up?

There was this Kickstarter...

...but it closed it's doors yesterday with no results.
 
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