Just now you were wondering, “how can I get more algae in my day-to-day life?” Well, maybe not then, but you are now. Now. Now. See? So now that you’re wondering it, I have an answer for you. I know! Such a lucky coincidence! Or maybe it was meant to be. You and this algae-powered lamp are a match made in the epipelagic zone.
The concept, which in all seriousness I like very much, was made possible by a recent discovery: a small current can be pulled from photosynthesizing algae, as long as they are healthy and provided with the necessities. Those are: sun and CO2. In the Latro Lamp, the sun provides the sun, obviously, and you provide the CO2 by exhaling into it every once in a while. In this way the little buggers are kept happy and a battery is slowly charged by their excess energy.
Unfortunately, the concept is strictly sci-fi for now: the research project cited as making this possible was tapping each algae cell individually with a nanoelectrode, a technique that is completely unfeasible for implementing on a macro scale. At least, for the next couple years. When nanobots can be manufactured quickly and easily enough (perhaps by themselves) to sell on a consumer level like this, you can bet we’ll see way more impressive applications than a green lamp, though.
[via Designboom and Inhabitat]