Gravity Lights

[b etor]

I guess the article is a couple months old and I don't know if anyone posted a thread about it already, but I think this is super cool!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-57559051-54/gravity-powers-new-lamp-for-developing-countries/

It's easy to take our electric lights for granted. Many people in developing counties don't have the luxury of electric grids and have to rely on kerosene lamps to brighten the night. Kerosene costs money and breathing the fumes is dangerous. A new light powered by gravity could be a superior solution to lighting needs.
GravityLight doesn't need to be recharged through solar cells. It doesn't use batteries at all. It's powered by the same force that keeps our feet on the ground. A weight attached to the light takes 3 seconds to lift up, but provides 30 minutes of light as it descends.

One major goal is to eventually get the cost down to $5 per light, making it a very affordable purchase for people in need while saving them money over the ongoing cost of kerosene.

The GravityLight project has captured plenty of public interest. The Indiegogo campaign has raised more than $115,000, blowing away the original $55,000 goal. Supporters can sponsor the delivery of GravityLights to villagers in need, as well as receive a light of their own. A $50 pledge supports research and comes with a light.

The GravityLight may well find a home as an emergency light or camping light in the developed world, but its impact on the lives of people in developing countries could be tremendous. It's healthier and cheaper than kerosene, less expensive than solar, and requires only a bag of rocks or sand to provide weight.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/282006 They had $399,590 pledged!


Is there any other cool/new/emerging technology out there that deserves discussion?

[Sava]

Looks cool!
Seems like some sort of clockwork device that slowly turns a generator. I'd love to see this kind of technology improved to its fullest potential. Imagine the weight of your smartphone being used to charge it!
Decentralized power generation FTW

[snoopy369]

Wow. I'm fairly sure if I bought one of those, my (1 year old) son would find that to be the single best toy ever created.

[The Mad Monk]

It's actually an old technology given a new purpose; grandfather clocks have the long case they do because they originally used weights on chains to keep the mechanism moving. I think most clock-tower clocks back in the day operated the same way.

[snoopy369]

It's actually an old technology given a new purpose; grandfather clocks have the long case they do because they originally used weights on chains to keep the mechanism moving. I think most clock-tower clocks back in the day operated the same way.

I thought grandfather clocks had the long case they did because they used a pendulum to keep time?

Edit: Ahh, the answer is 'yes' to both.

The long narrow case actually predated the anchor clock by a few decades, appearing in clocks in 1660 to allow a long drop for the powering weights. However, once the seconds pendulum began to be used, this long weight case proved perfect to house it as well.

[The Mad Monk]

The pendulum takes advantage of the long case, but it wasn't the main reason for it.

[Sava]

If God wanted us to keep time, he wouldn't have made the perception of it relative to our velocity.

[snoopy369]

You know, I never really thought about how pendulum clocks kept going. I guess I always figured the pendulum powered them... which of course is rather hilarious, coming from someone with a more than rudimentary knowledge of physics

You know what would be awesome... take a grandfather clock, and replace the clock bit with some LEDs (or even just add them to the clock), and power them via the clock's weights. Not sure if you could do this without making any modifications to the gears, or if the power would slow the clock down - presumably so - but either way it would be awesome.

[regexcellent]

You know, I never really thought about how pendulum clocks kept going.

Uh...this is an elementary physics problem which should have been taught in any physics class...

e: well actually I guess what you're saying is that you didn't think about the weights and stuff, not the regular period of the pendulum.

[Dinner]

This will help people in poor countries but they'd have to have all the kinks worked out as $5 per light time 20 lights amounts to almost 1/3rd of the yearly income for the billion or so people living on $1 per day to support an entire family.

[DaShi]

Oh, this is interesting, I guess. I thought that scientists had finally discovered how to use light to create anti-gravity fields. Maybe next century.