By . Sarah Griffiths . In an age when people are trying to cut energy use in everyday life, designers are increasing turning to nature for inspiration. One Dutch designer has drawn upon the the bioluminescent qualities of jellyfish and fireflies to create glow-in-the-dark trees, that wouldn't look out of place in the CGI blockbuster Avatar. Scientists have already created small glowing shrubs using biomimicry – the method of imitating systems found in nature to solve design problems. Scroll down for video . A bright idea: One Dutch designer is involved in using the bio-luminescent qualities of jellyfish and fireflies to create glow in the dark trees (illustrated) to light up our cities, instead of electric street lamps . Daan Roosegaarde is interested in lighting streets without using electricity and is working with scientists at the State University of New York and a company called Bioglow to create glowing trees. They would be made up of a large number of genetically-modified glowing plants to save electricity for street lighting. Alexander Krichevsky, of Bioglow, has already developed the plants by splicing genes from . bioluminescent bacteria with the chloroplast genome from a common pot plant to create 'Starlight Avater'. A project called Glowing Nature is designed to make ‘normal’ tress glow without using genetic modification. It would use a fine coating of ‘biological paint’ to make the trees glow at night. Engineering and design consultancy, Arup, believes the cities of the future will be covered in 'glow-in-the-dark dust' and fed by 'urban farms' growing both on and inside buildings. Spray-on light absorbing dust would give public buildings, roads and pathways a phosphorescent shine at night, helping to improve the safety of parks and alleyways. Even trees could be made to glow in the dark by splicing bioluminescent genes into their trunks and branches, they said. Daan Roosegaarde is interested in lighting streets without using electricity and is working with scientists at the State University of New York and a company called Bioglow to bring his vision to life. He is interested in how creatures like Jellyfish generate their own light and asked Dezeen: ‘What can we learn from nature and apply to the built environment, to roads, to public spaces, to our urban landscape?’ He is working with Alexander Krichevsky, who has already created genetically modified glow-in-the-dark plants, which will be sold by Bioglow. Dr Krichevsky makes the glowing plants by splicing genes from bioluminescent bacteria with the chloroplast genome from a common pot plant to create ‘Starlight Avatar’, which emits a light similar in type to that made by fireflies. Mr Roosegaarde plans on using a large number of the plants for a large art installation that will look like a glowing tree. ‘It will be incredibly fascinating to . have these energy-neutral [trees] but at the same time incredibly poetic . landscapes,’ he said. Bioglow, . the company behind the innovation, which is based in St Louis, . Missouri, claim Starlight Avatar is the first light-emitting plant. Fantasy to reality? The desire to harness the qualities of glowing animals evokes scenes from the blockbuster hit Avatar (pictured), where magical forests glowed by night . Daan Roosegaarde is interested in lighting streets without using electricity and is working with scientists at the State University of New York and a company called Bioglow, which has already created GM glowing plants, to bring his vision (illustrated) to life . It is a genetically-modified version of a regular pot plant called Nicotiana alata and glows continuously during its lifetime. The firm is auctioning the first batch of glowing shrubs and taking pre-orders for further plants that it is currently nurturing. The phenomenon of living organisms glowing in the nature is called bioluminescence. There are over twenty independently evolved bioluminescent mechanisms found in nature as seen in glow worms, bobtail squids, deep-sea anglerfish and bacteria. A light-producing plant called Starlight Avatar . that glows like a firefly has already been created by Bioglow. It is . pictured in daylight (left) when it looks like a regular pot plant, but . it can be seen to emit light in darkness . Autoluminescent plants - shrubs that produce light - are created by introducing the light-emitting pathway from marine bacteria into a plant's chloroplasts. The company said that its plants are similar to fireflies. Its light emission ‘machinery’ is encoded in its cells to let it constantly emit visible light during its life cycle of between two and three months. ‘The glow of Starlight Avatar is best described as comparable in strength to starlight,’ the company said. As well as Mr Roosegaarde’s work, another project called Glowing Nature is designed to make ‘normal’ tress glow without using genetic modification. The project would use a fine coating of ‘biological paint’ to make the trees glow at night. Engineering and design consultancy, Arup, believes the cities of the future will be covered in 'glow-in-the-dark dust' and fed by 'urban farms' growing both on and inside buildings. The phenomenon of living organisms glowing in the nature is called bioluminescence. There are over twenty independently evolved bioluminescent mechanisms found in nature as seen in jellyfish (pictured) glow worms, bobtail squids, deep-sea anglerfish and bacteria . Spray-on light absorbing dust would give public buildings, roads and pathways a phosphorescent shine at night, helping to improve the safety of parks and alleyways. Even trees could be made to glow in the dark by splicing bioluminescent genes into their trunks and branches said the engineers who are behind London's Garden Bridge project - which hopes to build a new footbridge and public garden spanning the Thames linking South Bank to Temple. The spray-on dust and glowing trees would make street lighting less necessary, thus reducing the carbon footprint of urban centres, making them more environmentally friendly. To meet the increasing demand for food, vertical 'urban farms' are also forecast with crops being grown in and on city buildings. Parks could also contribute to food supplies by providing places where people can forage for fruits, edible greenery and even insects. Mr Roosegaarde believes that technology will ‘completely disappear’ in the future. ‘I don’t think we’ll be looking at screens so much…in the coming 10 to 15 years,’ he said, but instead predicts that humans will be wearing technology and interacting with it in everyday life. Engineering firm Arup thinks spray-on light absorbing dust would give public buildings, roads and pathways a phosphorescent shine at night, as pictured in this artist's impression . Growing green: Plant-covered high-rise city blocks could help increase life expectancy and reduce absences at work through sickness, according to the report by Arup .
Daan Roosegaarde is interested in lighting streets without using electricity .
The Dutch designer has worked with the State University of New York and a company called Bioglow to bring his vision to life .
The plans on using large number of genetically-modified glowing plants for a large art installation that will look like a glowing tree .
Other engineers are also planning on using bioluminescence to light cities in the future .
By . Sarah Griffiths . In an age when people are trying to cut energy use in everyday life, designers are increasing turning to nature for inspiration. One Dutch designer has drawn upon the the bioluminescent qualities of jellyfish and fireflies to create glow-in-the-dark trees, that wouldn't look out of place in the CGI blockbuster Avatar. Scientists have already created small glowing shrubs using biomimicry – the method of imitating systems found in nature to solve design problems. Scroll down for video . A bright idea: One Dutch designer is involved in using the bio-luminescent qualities of jellyfish and fireflies to create glow in the dark trees (illustrated) to light up our cities, instead of electric street lamps . Daan Roosegaarde is interested in lighting streets without using electricity and is working with scientists at the State University of New York and a company called Bioglow to create glowing trees. They would be made up of a large number of genetically-modified glowing plants to save electricity for street lighting. Alexander Krichevsky, of Bioglow, has already developed the plants by splicing genes from . bioluminescent bacteria with the chloroplast genome from a common pot plant to create 'Starlight Avater'. A project called Glowing Nature is designed to make ‘normal’ tress glow without using genetic modification. It would use a fine coating of ‘biological paint’ to make the trees glow at night. Engineering and design consultancy, Arup, believes the cities of the future will be covered in 'glow-in-the-dark dust' and fed by 'urban farms' growing both on and inside buildings. Spray-on light absorbing dust would give public buildings, roads and pathways a phosphorescent shine at night, helping to improve the safety of parks and alleyways. Even trees could be made to glow in the dark by splicing bioluminescent genes into their trunks and branches, they said. Daan Roosegaarde is interested in lighting streets without using electricity and is working with scientists at the State University of New York and a company called Bioglow to bring his vision to life. He is interested in how creatures like Jellyfish generate their own light and asked Dezeen: ‘What can we learn from nature and apply to the built environment, to roads, to public spaces, to our urban landscape?’ He is working with Alexander Krichevsky, who has already created genetically modified glow-in-the-dark plants, which will be sold by Bioglow. Dr Krichevsky makes the glowing plants by splicing genes from bioluminescent bacteria with the chloroplast genome from a common pot plant to create ‘Starlight Avatar’, which emits a light similar in type to that made by fireflies. Mr Roosegaarde plans on using a large number of the plants for a large art installation that will look like a glowing tree. ‘It will be incredibly fascinating to . have these energy-neutral [trees] but at the same time incredibly poetic . landscapes,’ he said. Bioglow, . the company behind the innovation, which is based in St Louis, . Missouri, claim Starlight Avatar is the first light-emitting plant. Fantasy to reality? The desire to harness the qualities of glowing animals evokes scenes from the blockbuster hit Avatar (pictured), where magical forests glowed by night . Daan Roosegaarde is interested in lighting streets without using electricity and is working with scientists at the State University of New York and a company called Bioglow, which has already created GM glowing plants, to bring his vision (illustrated) to life . It is a genetically-modified version of a regular pot plant called Nicotiana alata and glows continuously during its lifetime. The firm is auctioning the first batch of glowing shrubs and taking pre-orders for further plants that it is currently nurturing. The phenomenon of living organisms glowing in the nature is called bioluminescence. There are over twenty independently evolved bioluminescent mechanisms found in nature as seen in glow worms, bobtail squids, deep-sea anglerfish and bacteria. A light-producing plant called Starlight Avatar . that glows like a firefly has already been created by Bioglow. It is . pictured in daylight (left) when it looks like a regular pot plant, but . it can be seen to emit light in darkness . Autoluminescent plants - shrubs that produce light - are created by introducing the light-emitting pathway from marine bacteria into a plant's chloroplasts. The company said that its plants are similar to fireflies. Its light emission ‘machinery’ is encoded in its cells to let it constantly emit visible light during its life cycle of between two and three months. ‘The glow of Starlight Avatar is best described as comparable in strength to starlight,’ the company said. As well as Mr Roosegaarde’s work, another project called Glowing Nature is designed to make ‘normal’ tress glow without using genetic modification. The project would use a fine coating of ‘biological paint’ to make the trees glow at night. Engineering and design consultancy, Arup, believes the cities of the future will be covered in 'glow-in-the-dark dust' and fed by 'urban farms' growing both on and inside buildings. The phenomenon of living organisms glowing in the nature is called bioluminescence. There are over twenty independently evolved bioluminescent mechanisms found in nature as seen in jellyfish (pictured) glow worms, bobtail squids, deep-sea anglerfish and bacteria . Spray-on light absorbing dust would give public buildings, roads and pathways a phosphorescent shine at night, helping to improve the safety of parks and alleyways. Even trees could be made to glow in the dark by splicing bioluminescent genes into their trunks and branches said the engineers who are behind London's Garden Bridge project - which hopes to build a new footbridge and public garden spanning the Thames linking South Bank to Temple. The spray-on dust and glowing trees would make street lighting less necessary, thus reducing the carbon footprint of urban centres, making them more environmentally friendly. To meet the increasing demand for food, vertical 'urban farms' are also forecast with crops being grown in and on city buildings. Parks could also contribute to food supplies by providing places where people can forage for fruits, edible greenery and even insects. Mr Roosegaarde believes that technology will ‘completely disappear’ in the future. ‘I don’t think we’ll be looking at screens so much…in the coming 10 to 15 years,’ he said, but instead predicts that humans will be wearing technology and interacting with it in everyday life. Engineering firm Arup thinks spray-on light absorbing dust would give public buildings, roads and pathways a phosphorescent shine at night, as pictured in this artist's impression . Growing green: Plant-covered high-rise city blocks could help increase life expectancy and reduce absences at work through sickness, according to the report by Arup .
inspiration. One Dutch designer has drawn upon interested in lighting streets without using State University of New York and a company called Bioglow to bring his vision to life. He is large number of the plants for a large art installation that will look like a glowing tree. Roosegaarde is interested in lighting streets without using electricity and is working with