LEDs Lighting Up the African Darkness 182
Peace Corps Online writes "In a non-electrified society, life is defined by the sun and little is accomplished once it sets around 6 pm. Only 19 percent of rural areas in Ghana have electricity. The rest use foul-smelling kerosene lamps to light their huts, which pollute, provide little light and are major fire hazards. But now Philips has partnered with KITE, a not-for-profit Ghanaian organization, to bring artificial light to villages that have no electricity. The new Philips products include a portable lantern which provides bright white light where it is needed, the Dynamo Multi LED self-powered (wind-up) flashlight that provides 17 minutes of light from two minutes hand winding, and the 'My Reading Light,' which is a solar-powered reading light with built-in rechargeable battery. 'People can now do things in the evening,' says Harriette Amissah-Arthur, KITE's director. 'If you could only see the joy these products bring the villagers. You look at their faces; you have to see it to believe it.'"
Re:Where can I get mine? (Score:5, Insightful)
In my experience, most people would rather pay a fraction of the price of a second item.
Ex: $150 + $150 = bad
$150*1.25 (With a sticker: "20% donated to providing blah in 3rd world countries.") will get more buyers.
We see the same thing in the games industry. People don't want to pay $90 for a content-packed game. They want to pay $30, plus $30 for an expansion if they like it, and another $30 for another expansion.
In my opinion, it is somewhat likely that OLPC would've done better offering laptops in the developed world for slightly more, rather than double. It'd drive the cost of production down quite a bit, get more exposure(which means more donations and support), and it's cheaper for the consumer.
Not so long ago. (Score:5, Insightful)
"The rest use foul-smelling kerosene lamps to light their huts, which pollute, provide little light and are major fire hazards."
In other words, the exact same type of lighting my grandfather's household relied on when he was a child. It's easy to forget that there are many people alive today that only had access to very primitive technology when they were young. And it wasn't because they couldn't afford it, but because it didn't exist anywhere on earth.
While I am sympathetic to the plight of countries that cannot afford modern technology for their entire population, and the massive infrastructure required to support it, I do keep in mind that we are talking about a gap of only a few generations - not centuries or millenia.
Re:At the same time, European Union bans incandesc (Score:3, Insightful)
Why doesn't it just tax them at a higher rate?
As big a fan of CFLs as I am (my house lighting is 99% CFL), banning incandescents is stupid. What do you use in the oven? CFLs NOR LEDs can withstand the heat. (Then there is the dryer and freezer, although leds might do the job, CFLs won't fare well there).
Re:Where can I get mine? (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:Not so long ago. (Score:3, Insightful)
First off, kerosene lamps don't have to be "foul-smelling". That usually means that a wick isn't adjusted right.
And you can easily get plenty of light from the right lamp - check out the Aladdin lamps that are used in parts of the US (don't know where else might use them). Simple lamp, cheap fuel, equivalent to a 60w bulb.
I like LEDs, most of my flashlights use them. But kerosene lamps have proven themselves over many, many years to be reliable and cheap. Introducing LED technology to countries without manufacturing capability means that they are just going to continue to be dependent on others.