SDU-Denmark

Welcome to the wiki for the 2017 iGEM team of the University of Southern Denmark! Our project this year focuses on green energy through bioelectricity in the form of a bacterial solar battery. This device will be constructed to contain two cultures of genetically engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli). A photosynthesising E. coli will produce a carbon source in the form of cellulose, by fixating carbon dioxide through Calvin Cycle and harvesting energy from sunlight. When switched on, the second E. coli will break down the formed cellulose by secreting cellulase through the cellulase secretion system. Once cellulose is broken down, cellobiose can enter the second E. coli and be broken down to glucose by introduction of periplasmic beta-glucosidase. Electrons will then be harvested from the anaerobic glycolysis of glucose to facilitate an electrical current. The electron transfer will be mediated by bacterial nanowires retrieved from Geobacter sulfurreducens.

Our device will be designed to resemble a leaf, in which way it can contribute to a better city ambience when integrated into an urban environment. For the implementation of our device in an urban environment, we will collaborate with city planning experts, with focus of implementation of our device into our home city, Odense. This way, our device can be optimised to reach its full potential and thereby fulfill the needs for a greener future.

Plant leaves do photosynthesis and are full of bacteria. Our leaf is just like that - except it also powers your phone!

Human Practices

Not unlike the coastline paradox presented by Mandelbrot, our total carbon footprint is hard to measure. Calculating our total footprint is therefore virtually impossible, and we cannot take the following into account: Every single kilometer we have driven, the exact size of our trees and so forth. The estimated carbon footprint of a flight from Copenhagen , Denmark to Boston, Ma, USA and back again is 3.430 kg/person(kilde). With a team of 14 persons this yields a total of 48.020 or roughly 48 tonnes of carbon dioxide for our team. Just from flying intercontinental. Added to this is the carbon footprint of the Danish trains at 30 g/km/person (kilde). With the same 14 persons and 175 km to Copenhagen from Odense this yields a total of 147 kg. We have been on a total of three trips, one to Langeland, Denmark, one to Copenhagen, Denmark and one to Delft, Holland. We have travelled to these destinations in two Volkswagen Transporter vans. The carbon footprint of these is 188 kg/km/car (kilde). With a total of 2320 km travelled our trips yield a total of 844,5 kg of CO2. Thus our total carbon footprint of travelling is roughly 49 tonnes of CO2.