A modern green lantern

Who says lighting can't be green--literally? The xDesign Environmental Clinic at New York University has developed the so-called greenlight , a solar-powered planted chandelier made from recycled and recyclable parts.

Designed to improve indoor air-quality, the greenlight features tropical indoor plants that naturally filter toxins from the room. And its low-voltage LED light system, which sits on a disc of blown recycled glass, draws power from a solar awning of Photovoltaic cells. The LEDs naturally nourish the plants.

According to San Diego-based xDesign, which stands for Experimental Design Lab, the greenlight is built to be carbon-neutral. "The photovoltaic panel sitting in a south-facing window can produce 7.5 W on an average of 3-4 hours a day in NYC," it says.

xDesign showed off the greenlight last weekend at the Wired NextFest, a two-day technology conference in Los Angeles. Representatives from xDesign said that it makes each chandelier by custom order, and the price ranges from $1,500 to $2,500. Compared to the cost of standard chandeliers, that doesn't seem like such a bad price to shine some light on your environmental consciousness.