An Innovative Idea - Bacteria-Powered Lighting

An Innovative Idea - Bacteria-Powered Lighting

The world of research and design is a crazy place comprised of innovative ideas that range from incredibly useful to just plain strange. As we have shifted our focus on greener, alternative, and more efficient ways to live our daily lives, the technologies that continue to sprout up certainly do not lack in creativity. Already we have solar powered garage doors, hand crank chargers for electronics, and even micro wind power for our homes, so how about pleasant light courtesy of bacteria?

Philips is working on this concept as we speak as a part of their microbial research endeavor. They have created a number of interesting designs including a microbial kitchen that digests and runs on its own waste! This new creation is an effort in the field of bioluminescence - biological agents such as bacteria and proteins that emit light by a biological process. For an easy way to understand this concept, just think of lightening bugs. This new lighting prototype is based off the same processes that are used by lightening bugs, except they utilize proteins or bacteria.

Handmade lighting systems are created which hold either proteins that emit a certain color and quality of light, or bioluminescent bacteria. Philips has a prototype that is used in conjunction with their microbial kitchen. The bacteria are fed by methane and other waste that is produced in the kitchen. These so-called Bio-Lights do not provide enough light to work by or read by, but they provide a pleasant glow that is perfect for relaxing or enhancing the mood of a room. They can also be used outdoors and as the technology continues to improve, could have further applications for use.

While this is not a practical innovation that is likely to be used on a large scale, it is an illustration of how we can mesh a deeper understanding of biology with technology. The light fixtures are incredibly large and as they are handmade, likely to be out of the budget of most people, but they are interesting in concept and shows the promise of the future of this type of research; like how solar garden lights once were. And Philips also notes that this technology could be useful for things like road signs and caution markers. Nature is still the blueprint on efficiency, revolution, and adaptability. Research such as this shows that living technologies have potential for a number of applications in our society, and as research in this area continues, so too will the arenas that it can be applied to.

Chris is a green and glen cove real estate writer

OLED Technology

Green White Light: OLED for Lighting Explained

Author: Ron Mertens

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) are materials that emit light when current is passed through them. OLED are used today to make beautiful and efficient displays in MP3 players, mobile phones and other gadgets, and the world's first OLED-TV can be bougt from Sony. Because OLEDs emit light, it is also possible use the technology to create white light.

OLEDs are very power efficient and they can be made very thin. An OLED light bulb is actually a thin film of material that emits bright white light. Because OLEDs can be flexible, or even transparent, exciting new OLED lamp designs are possible.

OLEDs are also the most 'green' light source. Not only are they super efficient, but OLEDs do not contain any 'bad' metals such as mercury, which is present in efficient CFL lamps. So OLEDs are really the future lighting source, when all things are considered.

In April 2008, OSRAM has announced the world's first OLED lamp. It was designed by lighting designer Ingo Maurer, uses 10 OLED light panels, sized 132 x 33 millimeters. The OLED bulb in this lamp are actually thin square sheets that emit light. This lamp is more of a prototype than a commercial product - only 25 will be made, and the price is more than 25,000euro. But it sure is an important milestone on the path for OLED lighting.

Several companies are working towards white OLED light products. GE is hoping to get products out by 2010, and OSRAM is planning products for 2011-12, even though, like we said, they already introduced their first OLED lamp in 2008.

Philips is already shipping product samples and OLED lighting kits, and is hoping to have commercial products as early as 2009. Other companies involved in white OLED lighting are Konica Minolta (plans to have products by 2011), Universal Display (WOLED technology), and Kodak.The EU is funding several OLED lighting projects, while in Japan a few companies have joined forces to create Lumiotec - a JV to study the possibilities of OLED light bulbs.

We're yet to see which company (or companies) will win the race for OLED lighting. But we're seeing more and more evidence that OLEDs will play an important role in our green-light future.

About the Author:

Ron Mertens has been following OLEDs since 1998, and is the editor of OLED-Info, the web's leading OLED display information web site. OLED-Info is published by Metalgrass software, who provides shareware for AdSense publishers and several other web sites.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Green White Light: Oled for Lighting Explained