Leave a light on: Glowing trees to replace street lamps?

Archean

Archean

Posts: 5,650   +102
We obviously can’t stop providing light outdoors, so what is the next best thing? How about modifying our natural surroundings to light our way for us? A group of researchers in Taiwan recently realized that adding gold nanoparticles to tree leaves would make the trees give off a luminous glow. The illumination is softer and far less polluting.



 
They look really funky also. No doubt that some green fingered people would complain about it in some way though.
 
I don't know if most of the "mother nature purity lovers" or "tree hugger's" are going to go for this!?!
 
I'll cut down the trees, burn them, and then mix the ash with water. Then I'll take that slurry and keep removing the top. Eventually I'll have gold left at the bottom :)
 
learninmypc said:
Heck, if it don't harm the trees, what the heck
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Plants need to rest, and are sensitive to day length. Because the spectrum of many artificial light sources mimic daylight, it creates a situation where blooming cycles can affected, and also stresses plants.

Dependent on species, illumination needs to be at a certain level for food to be produced. If light levels are lower, the plants uses food instead. Very low light levels to disturb photo periodic and respiratory processes.

Plants are at present one of the very few things standing between the earth being habitable, and having an environment similar to the surface of Venus.

Perhaps we'd be much better of leaving them alone.l
 
captaincranky said:
Plants are at present one of the very few things standing between the earth being habitable, and having an environment similar to the surface of Venus.

Perhaps we'd be much better of leaving them alone.l
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On a more serious note I was thinking the same thing... Could kinda wipe ourselves out if we're not careful!
 
Light pollution, IMO, really annoys me.
I'd prefer not having streetlamps at all, except at popular nighttime destinations, but certainly not neighborhoods.
My neighbors just installed two floodlights that they leave on all night...they're very bright through my window T_T.
 
LookinAround said:
Is it just me? but every time i re-read the thread title i keep thinking of Tom Bodett! :D
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I wasn't correlating the title with his end line earlier on but anyhow it is just a coincidence IMO.

By the way, I think it would be much easier to simply start selling night vision glasses to masses hence the need of light will become a non issue.

SNGX1275 said:
I'll cut down the trees, burn them, and then mix the ash with water. Then I'll take that slurry and keep removing the top. Eventually I'll have gold left at the bottom :)
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You will be burning lots of trees for a very very long time ........... to get any reasonable quantity of gold, and before you do anything useful with your gold ecomentalists will take it away. :evil:
 
Yes I did, and I felt pretty bad about it, because during last semester of MBA an old wise man who was teaching us Strategic Management told us to buy as much gold as we could to be rich in few years. We didn't listened to him (nothing unusual for students right ... :D).

Anyway, few days ago I did a calculation that if I've heeded to his advice and invested in buying say 100 ounce of gold, I would have made something like 71,500$ profit, not a bad return for +/- 3 years' investment.
 
Archean said:
We didn't listened to him (nothing unusual for students right ... :D).
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It's what being a student is all about. Their proverbial manifest destiny. You don't normally even realize that you should have paid more attention, until the student loans become due.
 
Very true indeed.

Then there is small matter of money, I would have ended up selling one eye, lung, and kidney to raise enough money to buy 100 ounce of gold. :(
 
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