Re:Living Plants That Glow Like a Lamp (2018)
by jfarlow on Friday May 10, 2019 @04:52PM
(#19882121)
That is likely the primary issue. Same with a bunch of cool sci-fi things you can do with gene editing in other organisms.
Most organisms are exceedingly energy efficient. [Build me an humanoid-like robot with all its attendant capabilities that can be powered on 2000 calories of snickers bars and apples...]
In order for these things to put of the kind of wattage we're familiar with even in a candle, you'd have to be feeding those plants some really crazy food (not what they usually do), or be charging them up with some super crazy laser (kinda defeats the point of a bio-light).
However, it's still super cool. And you could probably find all sorts of ways to actually charge up a plant in the long run, and as technology matures. Maybe have a whole 'forest' providing energy to a single 'lamp', or be able to provide some direct reservoir of maple syrup the plants can tap into for fuel, or store up energy over a few days for a few hours of light. The energy can come from somewhere else, but it does have to come form somewhere.
But yep - there are some basic laws of physics around energy expenditures that need to be taken into account here.
Most organisms are exceedingly energy efficient. [Build me an humanoid-like robot with all its attendant capabilities that can be powered on 2000 calories of snickers bars and apples...]
In order for these things to put of the kind of wattage we're familiar with even in a candle, you'd have to be feeding those plants some really crazy food (not what they usually do), or be charging them up with some super crazy laser (kinda defeats the point of a bio-light).
However, it's still super cool. And you could probably find all sorts of ways to actually charge up a plant in the long run, and as technology matures. Maybe have a whole 'forest' providing energy to a single 'lamp', or be able to provide some direct reservoir of maple syrup the plants can tap into for fuel, or store up energy over a few days for a few hours of light. The energy can come from somewhere else, but it does have to come form somewhere.
But yep - there are some basic laws of physics around energy expenditures that need to be taken into account here.