A French biochemist has developed a self-sustainable lamp that runs on a specific kind of algae and a little bit of sunlight. During the day, the algae feeds off the CO2 in the air, producing energy that gets stored in a battery, which then operates the light in the lamp during night time hours. Sunlight apparently isn’t even required for the reaction, as the algae can also feed directly on the carbon itself, so the lamps can even be effective underground or otherwise away from natural sunlight. And what’s the other byproduct of the algae’s work? Oxygen.
A single one of these lamps is apparently capable of removing one ton of CO2 from the air per year. This is more efficient than forests, and these lamps can be placed in targeted areas where carbon emissions are most severe, like crowded highways and underground garages. But they can also easily be placed in homes and other public places, allowing the air to constantly be cleansed.
More info: http://www.inspirationgreen.com/algae-co2-scrubber-and-streetlamp.html
Very cool. Now, how to scale up to trillions of kilograms per annum? ;)
ReplyDeleteCertainly better than trees, tho' ... I likey.
ReplyDeleteNote: I have noticed the use of kg's ...very cool David Chako ;)
ReplyDeleteI never understood rating amounts of pure substances in anything but mass units. Mass units are unambiguous re temperature and pressure, for example ... it is an historical artifact in the markets to, say, quote gases in cubic meters. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteAmazing idea
ReplyDelete