Could be. So over the mentioned four weeks, the algae is reproducing more cells in sunlight, and emitting light at night, while gradually wearing out in some way and "retaining 75% of their brightness". Then at the end of the month you have a bucket of tired algae, and that's the stored carbon. I don't know what you do with it. You probably shouldn't chuck it in a river. Its likely fate is methane, wherever you put it.
It seems to me that it has the same problem as carbon capture, which is how to make the result inert, or which deep hole to pump it into. Two people apparently silently disagreed with this, I wonder what was bothering them?
I hope this works. A decade ago I submitted glowing microbes to the epa but they blocked it. My read from going through that was that it was politically impossible. Hopefully times have changed.
Edit: my microbes were gmo, these are not, so no epa rules. Good luck to them!
The plant still need solar energy. They still need electricity within the tissues of the organism to survive (ATP and krebs cycle). Humans have always burned organic matter for light.
Not trying to be a pedant but "Light without electricity" falls down when examined from any angle. It's not a serious claim.
Why all the bother with 3d-printed gel shapes? Why not just use a mat of these things, all glowing, and then put it behind an LCD panel. Then you can have moving pictures without all the bother of 3d printing.
Then you can take the next step and both their apparent output further by replacing the algae with tiny blue LED modules.
I remember old watches that used to have some phosphors dots on the 4 main quarters in a hand watch to see time in the dark, while as kids we would take a to bed a rosary with glow-in-the-dark marbles to emit light from the phosphors inside.That would last for 30 minutes or more.
They’re pretty incredible, 200+ lumens per watt for LED lighting vs 16 lumens per watt for incandescent, 12.5x more efficient. Commercial LED fixtures have rated lifetimes of 50,000+ hours.
It's less that individual light fixtures or applications become brighter than that more things are lit.
Outdoor lighting 30 years ago used to be limited to, say, a porch light and perhaps a few motion-sensor floodlights near a garage or driveway, and those only on a handful of houses within a neighbourhood.
Today it seems that the majority of homes in many locations have persistent outdoor lighting, whether along paths, gardens, or building peripheries. Holiday lighting is far more prevalent, and not strictly limited to Christmas and Halloween. I'd seen Easter lighting exhibits in recent years, as well as adverts for firms offering holiday lighting services.
And that's just residences. Illuminated billboards, industrial lighting, street lighting, etc., are all both more prevalent and brighter than a few decades ago. A friend is on a campaign against a local business whose bright lights shine directly into their house all night.
Good? You would need the dashboard climate controlled all the time otherwise the algae gets sterilised in the sun. On the other hand, if you park underground all day, must provide light otherwise it dies. Either way it will eat your battery in no time.
Such an idea might be a good startup pitch for gullible investors but won't survive clash with reality.
The circle of light! Perpetual illumination! Let the algae do photosynthesis using their own light output as energy!
What's happening, chemically? Let's see ... it's luciferin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Luciferin_Light_Emission_... Isn't that CO2 being emitted on the right, there?