A French bio-chemist is working to bring light while capturing CO2 emissions. We are in love with the thought of a lamp that requires no electricity while soaking up a ton (literally) of CO2 in a year. That’s more than a tree absorbs in its entire lifetime. So what’s the magical substance that could do such a wonderful thing? ALGAE! Algae is placed in water with a light and battery.

This product has the potential to illuminate streets while soaking up the environmentally harmful CO2. Certain types of algae feed off the CO2 and even sunlight. The sunlight during the day allows the algae to charge the battery and then offer its illumination at night. What’s even better is that since the CO2 also acts as an energy source for the algae it can be placed in areas with no sunlight at all. The waste they excrete from the process is just another fabulous bonus as the “waste” is oxygen. The idea is extraordinary, plus it looks super cool.

The company the bio-chemist, Pierre Calleja, is working with is trying to develop a way to make the algae lamp cost effective. We will be eagerly waiting!