If it doesn’t harm the tree, as the article says, this is great. Forest fires damage millions of acres of land a year, damage property, kill people, and put many others, e.g. the firefighters, at risk so anything that can give us an advantage over fires is to be welcomed.

But then, if this process can truly be harnessed, couldn’t it be rolled out into other ventures? For example, trees could provide light in our cities at night. Okay, it’s not going to be a lot of light from the trickle charge they produce, but it could be stored during the day,then used at night, maybe with a group of trees all hooked up together. After all, a little light is better than no light. Plus, this ‘natural’ light would mean we didn’t need to burn as much fuel and produce carbon emissions to light our dark areas. Obviously it wouldn’t make a vast difference, but every little helps.

This could also be used for garden lighting which many people like – so reducing power consumption further.

And the knock-on effect would be that trees became much more appreciated! People would take care of them, maybe even plant more. Okay, not for strictly the right reasons, i.e. it would be just another way to bleed resources out of the natural world, but it is a sustainable method. As long as it really does NOT cause the trees harm or stress.

Yeah, I can see many possible uses of this technology.
Good news,
Steve N. Lee
author of eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
and suspense thriller ‘What if…?’