Anicet Mbida 06:52, January 24, 2023

Anicet Mbida delivers to us every morning what is best in terms of innovation.

This Tuesday, he is interested in bright street furniture, but which works without any electricity.

The innovation of the day is a first: bright street furniture, but which works without any electricity.

No, no batteries, solar panel or connection to the electricity grid.

These are bioluminescent billboards.

That is to say, they produce light in a completely natural way like fireflies or glowworms.

For a long time, they were locked up in vases to light up at night.

Today, it is bioluminescent bacteria from squids that are locked up in mini aquariums with everything they need to live.

The result: biological lighting without any electricity.

The first has just been installed in Rambouillet in the Paris region.

It's a technology I've already told you about.

It has been developed by the startup Glowee for several years.

But this is the first time that it has been tested outdoors (until now, it was rather in exhibition halls for event installations).

As you can imagine, with urban lighting, its potential becomes immense.

And is the lighting strong enough? 

Yes and no !

At the moment, it's roughly the equivalent of a candle.

So it's very mild, which is not worse.

This avoids light pollution.

But that's obviously not enough to light up a street.

On the other hand, it will be more than enough for a bus shelter, a shop window or the facade of a monument.

It should be known: nearly a third of the electricity bill of cities is linked to urban lighting.

This is why some municipalities turn off the streetlights at night.

So with this living light, we could already reduce consumption.

Waiting for one day, it will be powerful enough to completely replace the streetlights and bulbs in our homes.

If it's living light, what happens when the bacteria die?

It turns off?

Yes… in principle.

But again, these are not light bulbs, but liquid light that is passed through pipes, tubes or frames.

In fact, the bacteria inside work like fish in an aquarium.

So there is a whole automated system that feeds them regularly so that they reproduce and generate light all the time.

In any case, I love the idea of ​​cultivating his light.

Especially since it is both more economical and more respectful of the environment.