Project LifeLight set to illuminate African homes -- no electricity required

First it was radios, now lights. The Freeplay Foundation has undertaken a new project -- dubbed LifeLight -- which aims to provide just a few hours of lighting each night to the 500 million or so sub-Saharan Africans without appropriate access to electricity. The idea is to place a wind-up (or foot-pump driven we presume) base station into the home which charges a collection of detachable lights. Similar to the technology behind the 150,000 wind-up Lifeline radios (pictured) they've already distributed. Freeplay hopes to replace expensive and unhealthy kerosene or battery powered lamps currently in use with their low-cost, environmentally safe alternative -- local women will be trained to sell and repair the devices. Prototypes are being readied with tests to begin in Kenya in the "next few months."

[Hell Yeah @ Nov 1st 2007 9:19AM]

Sign me up when it can generate enough power to light up or heat a house for an entire day.

I have no problem to pump something up if it can eliminate the need for those costly electric/gas bills.

[Tony @ Nov 1st 2007 9:29AM]

Wow, are you using one of those $100 laptops to post to Engadget from Africa?!

[johnzilla @ Nov 1st 2007 2:11PM]

Yeah, its not like sub-Saharan Africa has a shortage of sunlight or anything like that.

[3rdsun @ Nov 1st 2007 3:19PM]

Its already hot enough in Africa already what more heat do the need. Now if it could be used to power a fridge of TV, but that might take a household pumping for an entire day. A goat on a treadmill might be the way to go

[mattszafir @ Nov 1st 2007 9:23AM]

what's wrong with candles?

[Tony @ Nov 1st 2007 9:33AM]

I guess candles are more likely to burn houses down and aren't rechargeable.

What I first thought of was "what's wrong with a bunch of those solar powered garden path lights!" :-)

Just need a switch to turn them on when ya need them (charge up otherwise), stick them outside during the day or through the roof of ya shack...

[syadasti @ Nov 1st 2007 9:38AM]

Lead in the cheap ones, even in the US...

[kempcross @ Nov 1st 2007 10:26AM]

There are non-profits currently attempting the solar-panel route. Same deal, train woman to repair them and give them small micro-finance loans to start a business and sell them.

Both are very good ideas.

[Mike Holzapfel @ Nov 1st 2007 9:56AM]

Why don't people realize that energy is still being expended to produce electricity? Since people are cranking (or pedaling) these stations, they are burning *calories*. They more calories you burn, the more hungry you are, at least generally. Dollars to donuts, these are the same African people that lack a balanced diet.

[Joe @ Nov 1st 2007 12:32PM]

Sounds like an Al Gore claim.

[portwineboy @ Nov 1st 2007 10:12AM]

Yea, 'cause you don't burn any calories when you chop/gather wood for a few hours a day/week, when you have to walk 5-10 miles to buy more kero, when it's likely your nearest source of clean water requires several trips a day with buckets or even if you do have running water indoors, you likely spend hours a day doing laundry by hand for your family...

More light = more productivity. More productivity, especially for people who really do live by the the fruit of their hands and not the mechanized society we enjoy, equals a higher standard of living.

[Todd @ Nov 1st 2007 10:14AM]

Haha no doubt Joe.

But here's the thing Mike, if the people that these things are distributed to didn't then have to pay for bateries, kerosene, ect. wouldn't they in turn have more money to buy food? The whole point is that this a renewable source and one time cost.

[3rdsun @ Nov 1st 2007 3:25PM]

I guess you are a couch potato. You conserve energy by sitting on your ass all day and eat high energy foods to increase your energy level. I hope when the electricity goes out you put back some to the grid. No wonder Americans are so fat.

[tekdroid @ Nov 1st 2007 11:00AM]

The FreePlay portable energy thing is on sale at many retailers, as seen here:
http://www.rei.com/product/760070?cm_ven=ps_Tleader&cm_ite=datafeed&cm_pla=pd_inclusion&cm_cat=datafeed

Speaking of portable energy to help the world:

http://www.steorn.com/news/releases/?id=1001
Steorn have been tight-lipped about alternative demonstrations for their failed free energy device since July, even though their press release states:

"Over the next few weeks the company will explore alternative dates for the public demonstration."

Help Africa, Steorn.

Ahem.

[HineyWipe @ Nov 1st 2007 11:19AM]

Nothing like violating the prime directive..

[Evan @ Nov 1st 2007 11:54AM]

That radio looks like a children's toy. So does the bright green OLPC.

Why do devices made for developing nations look like children's toys, with big bulky colored plastic? It doesn't add any cost to the item to create a more mature looking black or grey device! The designs of these devices treat poor people as if they are all children, instead of with dignity.

[Cameron Campbell @ Nov 1st 2007 1:08PM]

Umm.. all of FreePlay's products are brightly coloured, for every market in the world. And the OLPC is, um... you know, designed for kids.

[jamesbiskey @ Nov 1st 2007 4:46PM]

Not sure about the LifeLight, but the OLPC was designed to look like a kid's toy to deter adults from stealing it. It's a way to protect the government's investment in these laptops, and also to keep the laptops in the kids' hands, where they belong. There's a lot of great OLPC info at www.laptop.org.

[NewJohnny @ Nov 2nd 2007 12:16AM]

I agree, and how long is plastic going to last in these environments? How many cracked and rotting lawn chairs and swimming pools have we all seen in people's yards?

[Chris @ Nov 1st 2007 1:26PM]

"Project LifeLight set to illuminate African homes -- no electricity required"

It's still using electricity. Based on the topic I was expecting to see reference to a space mirror or some other form of device which doesn't use electricity. Those devices still use electricity... A space mirror would be better! ;)

[Bat @ Nov 1st 2007 1:35PM]

For Africa, I think this is really great. Just like wineboy said, this will help to increase productivity, even with something so simple. Giving developing groups of people a leg-up is a good thing. Indoor smoke, from burning fires inside, causes health problems, especially in children. I think a device like this could help to decrease the use of indoor fires. And for solar-panels, they are simply too expensive for impoverished people to take advantage of.

[Jason @ Nov 1st 2007 1:48PM]

Anyone else hear of that merry-go-round driven water pump? kids would play on the structure, and the energy expended would be used to pump well-water to a tower for later use in the village.

Why not combine play with electrical generation instead?

[insertAlias @ Nov 1st 2007 2:54PM]

I can see it now...
"Kids, you have to go play. The house is dark."

"But mom, we're tired!"

"Go play on your merry-go-round right now!"

Seriously, thats not a bad idea.

[Harry Wagstaff @ Nov 1st 2007 3:30PM]

Yeh, we have a bunch of vending machines which are owned by the charity running the roundabout water pump thing. The bottles of whatever (it sells water, fruit juice, yazoos (milkshake type stuff) and other 'healthy' drinks) are £1 each, but I don't know how much of that actually ends up as water pump.

[andy @ Nov 1st 2007 8:47PM]

Finally, something more useful than laptops for starving people.

[Valgas @ Nov 1st 2007 10:44PM]

Watch me crank dat Zulu Boy. Watch me Crank dat LifeLight. Now supaman dat hoe.