To Save Electricity, Paris Looks to All-Natural Bioluminescent Street Lighting

Glowee, a Paris-based company, is transforming street lighting to be more efficient and sustainable. In fact, the bacteria that Glowee has developed comes directly from marine organisms that are triggered to have a chemical reaction that allows them to create natural light, also known as bioluminescence.

You’re probably thinking that it’s difficult to find these marine organisms, but you’d be wrong. Bioluminescence is quite wide spread and can be found in ordinary creatures, such as squid, jellyfish, shrimp, as well as algae, and is present in over 90 percent of marine organisms, according to Glowee’s website.

So why is this exciting? Glowee’s groundbreaking creation will allow cities to brighten their streets without using any electricity while also inventing a more sustainable resource for street lights.

In July, France set into place a law that bans businesses from keeping their storefronts lit during the early morning hours and Glowee’s product could provide an alternative to this restriction. After watching a documentary on bioluminescence, the creators of Glowee were motivated to begin the process of developing economical lighting approaches that would accommodate this new law.

You would never be able to tell the difference between bioluminescence lights, which consist of a small plastic case with the bacteria in the form of a gel, from regular lights. Although there is further research needed to determine the temperature effects on the product, Glowee hopes to introduce the genetically engineered lights by 2017.