Good ideas are good ideas.....

[Workingman]

We all know that billions of us live in poverty, but I bet that most of us did not know that 1/5 of them spend almost 20% of their income on lighting alone. This is usually from kerosene lamps, which are a danger to health as well as being a major fire hazard in the slums, shanties and shacks of the poorest of the poor.

Step in the good ideas merchants.

The fist is the solar pop-bottle bulb capable of up to 60W of light, depending on conditions. All it is is a 2ltr clear pop bottle filled with cooled boiled water and a cupful of bleach then stuck through a hole in the roof and sealed in place - free lighting. Many shacks have few or no windows so this simple invention allows them to be used throughout the day.

But what about when the sun goes down...... step in Gravity Light. This British idea is little more than a modification of the Grandfather clock mechanism except that it is attached to a small generator and LED light. One lift of the pendulum = 30 minutes of light. The aim is to produce these for between £3 and £6 and for them to be user repairable with the minimum of tools and parts.

The only thing I would change with Gravity Light is to hand them out free. There will be approximately 500 million shacks around the globe. If each got two lights it would cost approximately £5 billion - a fraction of what the UK spends in aid each year - but it would save a fortune in kerosene and its related health and environmental costs.

[cromwell]

Those are great ideas; nice to hear some good news as well.

[KateLMead]

Those are great ideas; nice to hear some good news as well.

I must try and seek some.. (good news that is) that as Cromwell says is Good News.

[Workingman]

I hadn't really thought of them as good news stories, so another plus. I have always been interested in how things work and I was intrigued by the marriage of modern technology with much older knowledge to help solve today's problems.

I remember sticking glass rods through cardboard sheets during physics lessons to produce a sort of light pen - fun with prisms sort of thing. The plastic bottle solar light is a development of that knowledge..... it just needed someone to realise it. As for clockwork, a man called Trevor Baylis mated it to a micro-dynamo and capacitors to produce a wind-pup radio. We now have wind-up torches, chargers, mp3 players and so on. The gravity light is an extension of the principle but does away with the high-tech side

I bet that there are thousands of other "marriages" out there just waiting for the right partners to be found.

[Kaz]

Those are brilliantly simple ideas

[KateLMead]

I hadn't really thought of them as good news stories, so another plus. I have always been interested in how things work and I was intrigued by the marriage of modern technology with much older knowledge to help solve today's problems.

I remember sticking glass rods through cardboard sheets during physics lessons to produce a sort of light pen - fun with prisms sort of thing. The plastic bottle solar light is a development of that knowledge..... it just needed someone to realise it. As for clockwork, a man called Trevor Baylis mated it to a micro-dynamo and capacitors to produce a wind-pup radio. We now have wind-up torches, chargers, mp3 players and so on. The gravity light is an extension of the principle but does away with the high-tech side

I bet that there are thousands of other "marriages" out there just waiting for the right partners to be found.

Our Frank is a clever lad.

[Workingman]

No Kate, I am not clever.

The man who dreamt he could catch a sunbeam and did it with a bottle of water: he is clever.
The charity people who ran a cheap and cheerful competition rather than pay some experts' exorbitant fees: they are clever.
The students who remembered gran pulling down on an iron pine cone every morning to keep the clock going and used the idea to produce light: they are clever.
The young girl who made a fridge that worked on sunlight and water without any electricity or moving parts: she is clever.

I read about them, but that does not make me clever.

[Aggers]

I welcome this news, Frank.

Today there is an obsession with applying computer technology and electronics to every aspect of our lives,
and it is good that there are still people about who can apply some of the basic principles that have served
mankind for centuries.

[KateLMead]

As I say Frank you are clever as are some more deep thinker's.