Dutch designer Ermi van Oers has created a lamp that uses a living plant to generate its own electricity – and plans to scale up the technology to power entire smart cities.

Presented at Dutch Design Week, the Living Light uses microorganisms to convert the chemical energy it naturally produces during photosynthesis into an electric current.

Dutch designer Ermi Van Oers designed the lamp to function as its own self-sufficient ecosystem, which creates renewable energy instead of relying on coal power stations.

She has already began to apply the technology – known as microbial energy – to public spaces, and is collaborating with the municipality of Rotterdam to light up one of its parks.

"The potential is huge," she told Dezeen. "Street lights could be connected to trees. Forests could become power plants. Rice fields in Indonesia could produce food and electricity for the local population."

The Living Light comprises a built-in plant encased inside a glass tube, which releases organic compounds into a soil chamber below as it photosynthesises.

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