Glowing Plants as Eco-Friendly Energy?

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Scientists have developed a way to make plants glow, which could replace electric street lights with biologically powered light 24 hours a day.

In addition to the zero utility cost, these lights also would remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

The development comes from scientists at the Academia Sinica and the National Cheng Kung University in Taipei and Tainan.

They did this by implanting glowing gold nanoparticles – a k a bio light emitting diodes, or bio LEDs -- inside the leaves of a plant, Discovery News reported.

Here’s how the website describes the illumination process:

• Chlorophyll is the photosynthetic pigment that gives leaves their characteristic green color, and it can absorb certain wavelengths of light.
• When exposed to violet light, chlorophyll can also produce its own light.
• The normally green-colored chlorophyll glows red when exposed to light with wavelengths of about 400 nanometers.

Meanwhile, MSNBC reported that the company BioGlow Inc. recently succeeded in transplanting into tobacco plants the genes that allow marine bacteria to light up.

The glow is not quite what BioGlow wants it to be -- yet.

"You have to be five minutes in the dark to see them with your eyes," said Alexander Krichevsky, one of the founders, referring to the period humans' eyes typically need to adjust to the dark.

But, he added: "We are sure we are going to make them glow as bright as fireflies."

The project could have a bright future in the floriculture industry. But don’t look for glowing poinsettias or glowing Valentine’s Day flowers just yet.

This is more of a visionary thing," said Tal Eidelberg, cofounder of BioGlow Inc.

But there appears to be a market for the glowing plants.

"The only reaction I get is, 'Wow, I can get glowing roses for Valentine's Day,'" Krichevsky told MSNBC.