New Light Source Lasts 15 Years Without a Recharge

How about a glowing light source that lasts for 15 years instead of the typical 15 minutes of a glowstick? GlowPaint‘s newest product does just that and is also non-toxic and inexpensive and doesn’t require a recharge via solar or electrical sources for its entire lifespan. According to the company, “This has potential to save billions in energy costs world-wide. Litroenergyโ„ข surpasses all known available lighting options for cost/durability/reliability and safety.” Their products are expected to be used to replace other forms of safety, emergency and novelty lighting duties normally performed by glow sticks, LEDs and other light sources.

glowing-bike-with-litroenergy.jpg

“The Litrospheres are not effected by heat or cold, and are 5,000-pound crush resistant. They can be injection molded or added to paint. The fill rate of Litroenergy micro particles in plastic injection molding material or paint is about 20%. The constant light gives off no U.V. rays, and can be designed to emit almost any color of light desired.” PureEnergySystems

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Litroenergy was also submitted to the Nasa Create the Future Design Contest to compete based on its originality and potentially major impact on sustainable energy technology. More information can be found via GlowPaint’s online patent application though much of their research remains proprietary.

98 thoughts on “New Light Source Lasts 15 Years Without a Recharge”

  1. Ha! Tattoo Ink is a cool thought. William Gibson didn’t even think of that in Neuromancer. I’d like a glowing dragon for sure, especially with multiple colours.

  2. This product is not dangerous.
    The tritium used is encased in small glass beads so that both the gas and the beta radiation cannot leak, and is stored in these beads to minimize spillage if they rupture.
    Even if it leaks, the low-energy beta radiation from tritium cannot penetrate human skin, so tritium is only dangerous if inhaled or ingested.

    @Lenny: This is not yet for sale, all of the products on that page only glow for a few hours, and must be “charged” in another light source.

  3. It says “non-toxic” – Tritium is not toxic, it’s a beta emitter version of Hydrogen. Beta particles are just accelerated electrons like old style CRTs & TVs. They won’t even penetrate your skin, let alone the borosilicate glass Tritium is commonly packaged in.

    It’s banned from export, not import.

    Radioluminescent tech got a bad rep because early versions used Radium which is a very strongly chemically reactive alpha & gamma emitter that decays into an Radon gas which is also an alpha emitter that you can inhale. Alpha particles can cause nuclear transmutation, which is very strong carcinogen.

    What most people don’t realize is that both coal and oil contain radioactive elements that are released in significant amounts when they are burned in volume. By contrast, beta radioluminescent tech produces less radiation and of a much safer type. Don’t be scared by the word ‘radiation’ – even visible light is a type of radiation.

  4. Great.
    Glowing plastic trash. Maybe we’ll finally see the Pacific Gyre from space!
    Would be nice to know how these will decompose and how long until it is in the food chain.
    Can’t wait to glow in the dark too.

  5. Been here, done this. Search around for some older exit signs and you’ll find that they’re “powered” by glass vials of tritium. The only new thing is that they’re packing it in microbeads. It takes a very tiny amount of shielding to protect us from the particles this gives off, as they are relatively low energy. Other materials with longer lives typically are of higher energy. Besides, who wants to deal with nuclear waste from a raincoat that was shredded 40 years ago?

  6. I don’t see LITROENERGY for sale ANYWHERE.

    Odd link to glowpaint because “glow paint” requires light, THEN glows a while. Read this about LITROENERGY:
    “without any exposure to light”

    Whereas GLOWPAINT says:
    “Each time the item you have painted is exposed to light for 15 minutes the item will glow in the dark.”

    “Litrospheres (non-toxic) emit light continuously for 12 plus years (half-life point) without any exposure to a light or other energy (not effected by cold or heat).”

    http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/view/entriesdetail.html?entryID=567

  7. Wow can you imagine how this could change third world countries with no power? Imagine lighting your house for free !

  8. One supposes the tritium gas is “non toxic” as long as it is contained within the 5Klb crush resistant “micro-spheres”?

    Well, certainly, they could advertise it is 100% natural too. Wonder what the inventors def of “non toxic” is??

    What do we really need this stuff for? I could see a glowing string bikini on an exotic dancer under black light doing her thing, maybe. When was the last time anyone really used a “glow stick” rather than a flashligt to illuminate something? Don’t reflectors work well enough in presence of car headlights?

    Wow, soon we will not have any dark left and be constantly bombarded by glowing everything so we are “safer” during the evil night. This sounds a lot like that gyroscopic unicycle thing that was supposed to revolutionize the world. Ride a bike, get a flashlight. I’ve got an LED one with a crank. I’m sure it is good for 25 years or so since the actual time it’s ever been utilized is so limited. I’ve got 25 year old flashlights that still work too! Probably better to invent a better battery for those old flashlights that still work.

  9. Are they going to make glow-in-the-dark stars with this stuff?

    I’d LOVE to put some of those on the walls of my room! ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. Okay …. sooo… this is not kid friendly but IS a good idea…. Road lines… maybe not but guard rails, signs, towers, car paint… all totally acceptable and since is a gas and not a solid its Unlike Lead paint… if you were to paint a room with it and they were to all break at the same time it would not be harmful unless the room was sealed… and the person stayed in there for a excessive amount of time… I would love to see sumwun steal a glowing car…. lol no wun would notice that…. ๐Ÿ˜› and this does have 10000 of uses if i had sum money to invest freely believe me i would put Some.. Not All my money into this company… Beta particles are harmless to humans…. so dont go on about radiation dangers… Learn to read up before you mindlessly post a comment about a possibly fantastic idea…

  11. More Nukes, Less Kooks!
    Sounds like a great idea to me!
    I wish them luck marketing it to the same clowns who hold up grocery store lines making the clerks manually enter every item because they don’t want their purchases ‘contaminated by laser radiation.’

  12. Unless the laws have been changed these will not be available in at least the U.S. and Germany, if you want to see something that’s already in production and has been for years using an almost identical system google Trasers.

  13. If you read the patent application (there's a link to it in the article) you can see that it's manufactured with a “radioactive gas” which is probably tritium. The safety and health issues are not very troubling, but not negligible. Many products already on the market use tritium illumination. My wristwatch, for example. Read the Wikipedia article if you want. On the other hand, tritium-powered light sources glow rather weakly. Riding a bicycle at night, I'm not sure I would want to depend on a tritium-powered light source to keep me alive. Around streetlights and headlights, it might be barely visible. The bottom line — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

  14. There is only one problem with the above technology. Its radioactive and consumers will never purchase it.

  15. There is only one problem with the above technology. Its radioactive and consumers will never purchase it.

  16. Did you actually read the site? It requires light to recharge it. It is nothing more than glow in the dark paint. That's all. Uses solar energy to recharge it, and then re-emits the solar energy.

    Not a bad thing, but nothing revolutionary.

    Good lord.

  17. Did you actually read the site? It requires light to recharge it. It is nothing more than glow in the dark paint. That's all. Uses solar energy to recharge it, and then re-emits the solar energy.

    Not a bad thing, but nothing revolutionary.

    Good lord.

  18. Very interesting. Is it on the market yet? Where can i get it. Is it available for distribution? PLease send me infomation.

  19. Very interesting. Is it on the market yet? Where can i get it. Is it available for distribution? PLease send me infomation.

  20. Now this is what I call progress to be honest and I gotta say I worked with a light pretty much like this one but you needed to sun to recharge it. Anyway one or two hours under the sun light and it was enough to have light for like one week. I worked with this kind of light when I designed my motorcycle covers for the first time and I was really pleased of what I was doing.

  21. Now this is what I call progress to be honest and I gotta say I worked with a light pretty much like this one but you needed to sun to recharge it. Anyway one or two hours under the sun light and it was enough to have light for like one week. I worked with this kind of light when I designed my motorcycle covers for the first time and I was really pleased of what I was doing.

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