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Making Light Out of Debris

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This is going to be my final passion blog post for the year. I hope everyone has liked it, and hope that you will enjoy my last post as well.

In the United States, today, we see lighting as a common, and almost give, utility. Our homes, schools, cars, and etc. all have some kind of lighting system , and many of us are wasteful with our lighting sources and leave our lights on at all hours of the day, without even thinking twice. Yet, this is not the case throughout the entire world. For the large portion of the world’s population that does not have access to an electricity grid, lighting is not an automatic given, and can be costly to acquire. In addition to the expensive dollar cost of these devices, the health costs associated with many alternative light sources can be great.

The GravityLight hopes to help solve this problem. The conception of Martin Riddiford and Jim Reeves, the GravityLight is here to provide a less damaging and safer alternative to the kerosene and other biomass-based lighting sources that third world countries currently employ. This device produces light without any electricity, batteries, or cranking by hand. Instead, an individual simply fills a bag with some kind of available debris, like rocks or sand, lifts the bag, and lets go, and presto! The individual now has approximately 30 minutes of light to be used for whatever purpose he/she wants.

The GravityLight produces light for up to 30 minutes at a time

http://www.gizmag.com/gravitylight-gravity-powered-led-lamp/25394/

How does this rather simple device work? The user first fills the bag with whatever on-hand debris. The weight of the newly filled bag pulls a belt through a number of gears to drive a small motor, which then provides 30 minutes of low-power LED light. A power-out socket on the device also allows some of the energy created to be used for charging other devices, and multiple GravityLights can be chained together to produce a larger amount of light. And because this device is geared toward third world countries, it only costs $10.

There are many benefits to using this device for people of the developing world. First, the device is much more environmentally safe and health safe than the standard biomass fuels that these people currently use.  The kerosene-powered lamps that these people currently use produce toxic fumes, and the World Bank estimates that, as a result, 780 million women and children inhale the equivalent of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes every day. The lamps can also trigger fires when they tip over, and produce substantial carbon emissions.  Second, biomass and kerosene lamps are expensive, and kerosene lighting alone can consume up to 20% of a household’s income. The GravityLight saves about $0.01 per every hoist of the bag, which eventually adds up to a considerable amount of savings for these people.

One of the problems with the GravityLight is the initial purchase price of $10. For people who make $1 to $2 per day, this $10 can be quite an expensive purchase.  However, the GravityLight arguably pays for itself in the long run (as described in the previous paragraph). In addition, if these problems could be solved in the makers of the device find a way to exchange the product on some kind of loan.

Even though GravityLight produces a relatively small amount of power, it is a big first step in the fight against poverty. As more and more advanced models are produced, this device’s ability to help provide power and light will only increase as well. Bigger models will be able to power bigger areas and I’m sure that in the future, the amount of time that device provides light for will only increase. We need more devices like the GravityLight, which are simple, but ingenious and create something out of almost nothing.

For more info, check out these sources:

GravityLight: lighting for developing countries

The CNN 10: Inventions

Brit inventors’ GRAVITY POWERED LIGHT ships out after just 1 year


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