05 January, 2016
"What if we no longer need electricity to produce light?" Huh?! Sounds impossible? Well, according to the French winners of our 2015 competition, Join Our Core, it certainly isn't...
Whilst the world's focus has (rightly) been on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to move away from fossil fuels, Glowee have taken an entirely different path.
In an ever-changing world, there are a few things that we are pretty confident will remain essential; water, food, shelter and light. Glowee recognise this and, through their revolutionary product, offer a way to significantly reduce the ecological impacts of light production!
Something To Do With Squid
Using bioluminescense, Glowee have created a light source that produces no greenhouse gas emissions... biolumi-what?! OK, we weren't absolutely sure what it was either, so here's the technical bit straight from the guys at Glowee; "Bioluminescence is a chemical reaction regulated by a gene, which enables living organisms to produce light naturally — over 90% of marine organisms are bioluminescent (!) including jellyfish, squid, shrimp and more."
For their product, Glowee cultivate this bioluminescent bacteria (specifically from squid), and then transform it into a light which can be moulded into any shape... cool, huh?!
Still confused? We like to think of Glowee as a glowing, living play dough... or something a bit like Flubber!
A Better Kind of Light
Far more efficient than traditional, electric light, Glowee not only produces far less heat, but also has the ability to be moulded into any shape, meaning it can be used pretty much anywhere — for example in 2013, the city of Paris forbade the electrical lighting of shops and offices at night and Glowee offered the solution. Its light is also much softer, and therefore has the potential to seriously reduce light pollution in urban landscapes.
Where Next?
As the team continue to work hard in the lab, testing and refining, the opportunity for Glowee to significantly reduce energy consumption only gets bigger and bigger! They have already scooped a load of awards and it seems the sky (or should we say the sea!) is the limit.
We're at a tipping point for the world's climate, and we desperately need innovations like Glowee, alongside global commitments, in order to rapdily de-carbonise our economies and stay below the 2°C limit.
As part of a growing social-entrepreneurship movement, Glowee demonstrate that business can be used as a force for positive change. We feel greatly privileged to have been able to work with Glowee, and can't wait to see what exciting developments they come up with next!
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