How bacteria could someday feed your home



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Canadian scientists have found a way to produce electricity by making solar panels with E. coli.

It takes advantage of the ability of bacteria to produce lycopene – the red dye that gives tomatoes their color

E. E. coli have been genetically engineered to produce more lycopene and coated with minerals that act as a driver for the electricity that they produce.

The result is a solar panel that produces twice as much electricity as previous "biogenic" attempts to make power, at one-tenth of the cost – and it worked "as effectively in dim light as in light "

. Canada, where the sky is often cloudy.

"Our solution to a typically British problem is an important step towards a solar energy economy," said Vikramaditya Yadav of the University of British Columbia. However, the panels were developed

. However, there is still much to be done: hybrid solar panels are not as efficient as traditional solar panels. "The hybrid materials we develop can be economically and sustainably manufactured and, with sufficient optimization, they could operate at efficiencies comparable to those of conventional solar cells," said the scientist. Yadav.

The next step, he says, is a process that does not kill the bacteria in the process so that they can produce lycopene and electricity indefinitely.

It is estimated that homes in New Zealand with solar panels save

Although some strains of E. Many are not, and according to the Ministry of Health, they are "an important part of a healthy human intestinal tract".

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