By Nikita
Recall all the renewable energy forms you know: solar, wind, geothermal – now there’s a new renewable energy source to add to that list. It’s free, completely reliable and totally unlimited: the force of gravity! Two British designers -Martin Riddiford and Jim Reeves, have invented a lamp that runs on gravity alone. Their ‘Gravity Light’ – aptly named – is a revolutionary new approach to storing energy and creating illumination. It takes only 3 seconds to lift the weight which powers Gravity Light, creating 30 minutes of light on its descent.
Did you know that there are currently over 1.5 billion people in the World who have no reliable access to mains electricity? These people rely, instead, on biomass fuels (mostly kerosene) for lighting once the sun goes down.Estimates from the World Bank reveal that three quarters of a billion people are affected by regular inhale of kerosene smoke which may be equivalent to at least smoking 2 packets of cigarette each day which usually leads to high rates of lung cancer.So, Gravity Light is a project which the two genius minds started when they were working with a charity trying to find an alternative to kerosene lamps for the third world countries. At that time they were working with solar power and were doing a lamp which used LED bulbs and a battery which had to be charged through solar panels. They found out that the cost of the unit was too expensive for people in Africa to buy, because they have extremely limited finances. In order to minimize the cost of production, they wanted to get rid of battery as all the devices involve a battery.
And this is where the gravity side came in.The gravity lamp is designed in a very simple way. It has a cable hand that is attached from a gear mechanism and it holds a plastic bag that is filled with rock to give it more weight hence more gravity pull.This device releases the bag very slowly and powers a generator to create a very small amount of electricity, but enough electricity to give you sufficient light – well, more light than a kerosene lamp would give you.
Using this advanced lamp is very beneficial since people will be able to save the money they usually use for kerosene and they will be able to change their lifestyles. At the moment the cost of this Gravity Light is only $10 and is expected to drop to $5 in order to reach more people and have quality lives with healthy families.
