Brilliant light for developing world is powered by gravity

ScienceRocks · Dec 10, 2012

Brilliant light for developing world is powered by gravity

Not everyone has access to electricity all the time. And not everyone has access to chemical energy or solar energy or nuclear energy all the time. But everyone on Earth has access to gravitational energy whenever they need it. The problem has always been making gravity useful for something, but this gravity-powered light manages to do exactly that.

Essentially, this light (called GravityLight) operates just like a grandfather clock: there's a weight attached to a cable, and as the weight descends, it pulls the cable through a mechanism to extract energy from gravity-induced motion. You recharge the clock by winding it, putting energy into the system by using mechanical effort to lift the weight up against gravity. And there's a reason why people still have grandfather clocks: it's a very simple, very dependable system that's super easy to recharge.

GravityLight is designed to replace kerosene lanterns throughout the developing world. There are lots of reasons why doing this is a good idea: kerosene is bad for humans (having kerosene lamps burning in a house is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day), bad for the environment (it produces 244 million tons of CO2 yearly), and bad for finances, sucking up between 10% and 20% of a developing household's income. The key to making something to replace kerosene is simplicity, dependability, and cheapitude. GravityLight has all three of these things going for it.
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Brilliant light for developing world is powered by gravity | DVICE

flacaltenn · Dec 13, 2012

Matthew said: ↑

Brilliant light for developing world is powered by gravity

Not everyone has access to electricity all the time. And not everyone has access to chemical energy or solar energy or nuclear energy all the time. But everyone on Earth has access to gravitational energy whenever they need it. The problem has always been making gravity useful for something, but this gravity-powered light manages to do exactly that.

Essentially, this light (called GravityLight) operates just like a grandfather clock: there's a weight attached to a cable, and as the weight descends, it pulls the cable through a mechanism to extract energy from gravity-induced motion. You recharge the clock by winding it, putting energy into the system by using mechanical effort to lift the weight up against gravity. And there's a reason why people still have grandfather clocks: it's a very simple, very dependable system that's super easy to recharge.

GravityLight is designed to replace kerosene lanterns throughout the developing world. There are lots of reasons why doing this is a good idea: kerosene is bad for humans (having kerosene lamps burning in a house is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day), bad for the environment (it produces 244 million tons of CO2 yearly), and bad for finances, sucking up between 10% and 20% of a developing household's income. The key to making something to replace kerosene is simplicity, dependability, and cheapitude. GravityLight has all three of these things going for it.
Click to expand...

Brilliant light for developing world is powered by gravity | DVICE
Click to expand...

This is exactly the type of silliness that keeps me coming here. No offense Matthew, but that light is NOT POWERED by gravity. It's powered by pizza and beer. Or in Zimbabwe, likely powered by grasshoppers and goat milk...

But from a progressive viewpoint -- we should ALL be required to generate our own energy. Don't want to hop on the elliptical machine? Well then -- no Colbert Report for you.

Old Rocks · Dec 13, 2012

By God, Flatulance, you are a horses ass. This is a device that can improve the lives of people living in extreme poverty. And all you can do is bray nonsense.

flacaltenn · Dec 13, 2012

It's a wind-up toy... With no advance in any technological area at all.

Put a crank on it and a spring to store the energy and you have the same ole 40 yr old idea. WITHOUT the hype about it being gravity powered..

Ever occur to you that SOMEONE may be trying to con those folks living in poverty from believing they DON'T need electrical service to their village? Because there are eco-leftists who selfishly don't WANT those poor people to further pollute the planet? Or to grow a REAL economy?

What they NEED is not a wind-up toy...

Old Rocks · Dec 14, 2012

It is a combination of a modern advance, LED light, and old tech. A good combination that can change the poverty level by giving people light to study by at night.

But that is irrelevant to your objections. You routinely object to anything that anyone proposes as a solution to a problem. You seem to be very anti-tech, and anti-people. Appears you have some real mental problems.

neomalthusian · Dec 24, 2012

Old Rocks said: ↑

It is a combination of a modern advance, LED light, and old tech. A good combination that can change the poverty level by giving people light to study by at night.

But that is irrelevant to your objections. You routinely object to anything that anyone proposes as a solution to a problem.
Click to expand...

You just have to accurate about what problem you think it's solving, and how. There were major errors in the OP/article and they were clarified.

You seem to be very anti-tech, and anti-people. Appears you have some real mental problems.
Click to expand...

No he doesn't, and no it doesn't.

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Brilliant light for developing world is powered by gravity

ScienceRocks Blue dog all the way!

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