Carbon dioxide molecules retain heat. On Earth, this emulates a greenhouse effect of letting heat energy in, but not out.It  is the most well-known ‘greenhouse gas’, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels . The greater the number of these heat trapping molecules that exist, the more the Earth’s temperatures will continue to rise.Trees  eat carbon dioxide, but if we calculate on a per tree basis, they don’t consume much, about one ton in their lifetime. In order to keep the number of heat absorbing molecules down, we need more CO2 eaters. French biochemist Pierre Calleja has looked to algae for this.

Algae are an ancient plant, with fossil records dating back 3 billion years! Algae produces more oxygen than all of the other plants in the world put together.  Algae produces energy through photosynthesis by combining sunlight, H2O, and CO2. Microalgae can be grown and cultivated in extremely adverse conditions, unlike most any other plants. These microalgae can produce up to 100x more biofuel than comparable energy crops, a future power fuel.

In this case, Calleja has taken advantage of microalgaes amazing properties to build a ‘microalgae lamp’ that not only produces light, but eats CO2. The algae rests in water, and produces harvestable energy through photosynthesis by absorbing CO2 and sunlight. This energy is funneled into a battery and stored, which is used to power the light at night. The light energy is conveniently released from the battery only when needed. The microalgae lamp produces a friendly byproduct, oxygen, while only one of these algae lights is able to suck up 1 ton of CO2 per year. To put that in perspective, one microalgae lamp absorbs as much CO2 in one year as a tree does in it’s lifetime!

The main questions to ask about this invention are of economic and practical feasibility. Will the water need to be replenished, and how frequently? What is the realistic scope of implementation; do we currently have the resources to install these algae lights worldwide?

Source:     Astounde

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