Gravity Light tackles weighty issue of lighting in the developing world
(Najamuddin Ghanghro, Karachi(original from Larkana))
With most of us in the
developed world more concerned about the flow of electricity to power our
computers, TVs and all manner of other wonders of the modern age, it’s easy to
forget the massive impact resulting from one of the first widespread public uses
of electricity – the humble incandescent light bulb. With a large proportion of
the world’s population still lacking reliable access to electricity, the
GravityLight hopes to bring the benefits of environmentally friendly artificial
light to the developing world.
As the developed world makes the move to electrical lighting options more
environmentally friendly than the incandescent bulb, the team behind the
GravityLight says that around 1.5 billion people in the developing world still
rely on kerosene wick lamps for lighting. A recent study by researchers at the
University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois claims these
kerosene lamps are even more hazardous to the environment and human health than
previously thought – and they were already known to be pretty terrible.
After being challenged to develop a solar-powered LED lantern for villages in
Africa, the creators of the GravityLight instead turned to a different power
source that is freely available to anyone on the planet – gravity. They’ve
turned to crowdfunding to get their idea off the ground.
The GravityLight is an LED lamp that works by harnessing the gravitational force
exerted on a weight hanging from the lamp. One lift of a 20-pound (9 kg) weight,
(which is formed by filling the fabric bag the light is delivered in with rocks
or sand), generates enough power to provide 30 minutes of light with no need for
rechargeable batteries or fuel, which means no running costs.
The unit has also been designed so that it can be used to power other devices,
such as a radio, or recharge batteries, which can be connected to terminals on
the front of the unit. The brightness of the GravityLight can also be adjusted
based on the task at hand or to increase light running time.
The team hopes to get the cost to villagers of the GravityLight down to less
than US$5, which would see them saving money after switching from kerosene lamps
after a period of around three months.
They project is rapidly approaching its $55,000 funding goal, which will be used
to tool, manufacture and distribute at least 1,000 gravity powered lights in
Africa and India with the aim of improving the design and efficiency of the
device based on actual use.