here's the newest discovery (?) from a team of scientists in taiwan - bioluminescent trees! i would LOVE to see a city of these instead of a city of street lights.... Inhabitat Electro IQ imagine walking through a park at night that's all lit up - naturally, by the trees!
if they manufacture these seeds on a global scale that would be great i would love to experience getting stoned under a glowing tree.
Sick find, really interesting, it says on top of saving energy the other plants can use the red light emmisions coming from the trees to continue photosynthesis during the dark, which means more CO2 conversion. Although surely that will create some serious problems for certain species of plants
i don't think we can even fathom how much energy we as a planet would save if street lights got weened out and these started popping up. image a city where there are NO public lights (at least for lighting purposes) anywhere. the only lights you see are cars/ads/private lights/etc... i did think about this a little bit. i don't have enough background knowledge to really understand how it would affect certain species and regions, though. can anyone elaborate?!
It would be amazing. It is my understanding that bioluminescence is much more efficient as far as energy goes. I read somewhere that in fireflies 90% of the energy is given off as light and 10% as heat, whereas with light bulbs the opposite is true.
I wonder what effects it would have on wildlife if you were to make a park full of these trees. I bet you would see some crazy ass shit develop in there over a long period of time.
Certain vegetation I'm sure would die because it needs a dark period, where some vegetation would possibly flourish and take over. The glowing trees also has a possibility to confuse the trees natural inhabitants such as bugs and rodents. Some very serious environmental engineering would have to be put into a project like that to make sure it didnt disrupt the ecosystem
Although thats a good point, no where near as many creatures make their home in a light pole as they do trees. Plus trees are planted which usually means there are plants surrounding them, whereas street lights are directed towards the street. I could see this being a lot more feasible in a big city, or with the trees in pots with nothing around them but concrete and maybe grass that isnt negatively affected by 24 hour light, which I'm sure most grass isn't affected.
that is true. it would be very interesting, since these would eliminate the street lights, we would have no need for any other source of light - we could get all we need from these natural(ish) examples. as far as heat goes, it would be interesting if we could either: harvest it (doubtful) or just simply they would become "heat lamps" (not as stong, mind you, but giving off heat nonetheless) - in the winter each of these trees would probably give off enough heat to warm up underneath it, at least a few degrees more than what it is outside. this would effectively help warm particular areas, at least in the winter. as far as summer goes i'm not too sure if these would actually be giving enough heat off to be hot or if it was just enough to warm the area, so it may not be a big deal. it would be interesting to see how the landscapes change over time. many of those plants that need a dark period are already in places that receive a high amount of light, so i don't think these trees would affect too many species. i do agree, however, that this could change a lot of our urban landscape if these do get implemented. because of the benefits of such a "project" i would see them being implemented, but done in a way (hopefully...) that they are responsive of the existing vegetation and life. i'm also wondering how much affect this will really have on certain species, so definitely a good point there. i agree. i think that at this point it's a very "cool" idea, but if it is something that may actually find its way into our urban fabric that it will be something that will be studied and researched, finding all possible conflicts and benefits. and keep in mind, all, that this applies to new plantings. it's not like they're going to go out and change all the existing trees we have. just as with any natural process it will take time, and over time is where we will see how the contextual city and wildlife will respond to such growths.
If those replaced streetlamps, that would be gorgeous! I think we modernized everything this planet too quickly, too cheeply. All these streetlights, al these roads, all these houses and buildings. I think everything was made too quickly without worrying so much about aesthetics. Urban cities should have payed more attention to making things look more aethetically pleasing. I think these trees could be just a simple way to start making this planet look more gorgeous again.