Bright Solutions

LIGHTING

SOME 2 BILLION PEOPLE in the developing world have no access to electrical power and light. They rely instead on jury-rigged kerosene lamps, candles, traditional battery-powered flashlights and wood or manure fires. Effects include risks to health and safety from fires and toxic fumes; poor security, pollution from burning kerosene, and deforestation-not to mention the difficulty faced by schoolchildren trying to study at night. Now two U.S. companies have devised novel ways to illuminate these dark corners:

* The lack of nighttime lighting stunned-and inspired-Mark Bent when he visited a rural Eritrean village two years ago. A former Marine and U.S. diplomat who has worked in Angola, Bosnia, and Somalia, Bent began pondering a solution.The result is a durable, solar-powered LED flashlight, called BoGo. Manufactured in China, it uses nickel-cadmium batteries to convert sunlight to power. It takes 10 hours to charge and provides five hours of light. Bent quit his job as an oil executive to start SunNight Solar in Houston, which sells the flashlights for $25. For each one sold, SunNight provides another one gratis to a recognized charity operating in the developing world. Hence the name, BoGo: buy one-give one. The United Nations recently purchased 10,000. A new design will make the BoGo waterproof and able to light a room.

* Boston's Kennedy & Violich Architecture has created Portable Light, a cloth bag with indium gallium diselenide solar cells woven into the fabric. During the day, the cells-made by Global Solar Energy of Tucson-capture energy from sunlight and store it in small lithium-ion batteries. At night, the batteries power hundreds of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are also sewn into the bags' material. When the bag's spread out, it can provide background light for a room. Roll the bag up, and the light can focus like a flashlight's spotlight. Three hours of sunlight can produce 10 hours of night light.The first recipients of the Portable Light bags will be the Huichol Indians of Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains (right). While the $50 cost of the bags is not cheap, given that many of the rural poor already spend $10 a month on kerosene, candles, and short-lived dry-cell batteries, it could be a bright investment.-TG

Copyright AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION Mar 2008
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