Gravity Light
31 03 14. Sustainability | Technology
I came across this project and just had to share. Sure, it's not pretty, but how innovative and what a great humanitarian effort. Well done Deciwatt and everyone that contributed through their Indiegogo campaign.
The GravityLight was the result of wanting to help solve the unreliable and unsafe lighting issue for the poverty-stricken 21% (more than 1.5 billion!) of the world's population. Deciwatt's mission is to provide affordable, sustainable and reliable light, anytime, that enables people to break free from the economic, health and environmental hazards of kerosene lamps.
The GravityLight is an innovative way of generating light and low levels of power from gravity. It takes only 3 seconds to lift the weight that powers GravityLight, creating 25 minutes of light on its descent. Can be used over and over again, anytime without the need for sunshine or batteries, therefore having no running costs and being extremely long lasting.
The GravityLight was the result of wanting to help solve the unreliable and unsafe lighting issue for the poverty-stricken 21% (more than 1.5 billion!) of the world's population. Deciwatt's mission is to provide affordable, sustainable and reliable light, anytime, that enables people to break free from the economic, health and environmental hazards of kerosene lamps.
The GravityLight is an innovative way of generating light and low levels of power from gravity. It takes only 3 seconds to lift the weight that powers GravityLight, creating 25 minutes of light on its descent. Can be used over and over again, anytime without the need for sunshine or batteries, therefore having no running costs and being extremely long lasting.
{The human-powered, Gravity-run LED GravityLight by Deciwatt. Image source}
Hazardous and polluting, there is a real need to replace kerosene with a safer, sustainable and affordable light that eliminates the many negative impacts of kerosene lights.
The information and images above were gathered from the Deciwatt site. Please follow the links through for more information on the product.
Fumes
The World Bank estimates that 780 million women and children breathing kerosene fumes inhale smoke equivalent to 2 packs of cigarettes every day. 60% of adult female lung-cancer victims in developing nations are non smokers. These fumes kill an estimated 1.5 million women and children in Africa every year.Injury
In India alone 1.5 million people suffer severe burns each year, primarily due to overturned kerosene lamps.Sight
Poor quality of light and fumes that cause eye infections and cataracts.Poverty
Fuel burns quickly and is comparatively expensive, so individuals have a never-ending high overhead burden, in many cases equivalent to 10%-20% of their income.Sustainability & Climate change
Not only does burning kerosene deplete our finite fossil fuel resources, it also has a huge cumulative contribution to CO2 emissions: Used for 4 hours a day, a single kerosene lamp emits over 100kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per year.
GravityLight: lighting for the developing countries from Therefore on Vimeo.
The information and images above were gathered from the Deciwatt site. Please follow the links through for more information on the product.
xo Romona
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