Solar-Charging Backpacks Are Helping Children To Read After Dark (cnn.com) 18
A Tanzanian entrepreneur is transforming cement bags into solar-powered backpacks, helping students study after dark in areas without electricity. Innocent James's company, Soma Bags, sold 36,000 solar backpacks across Africa last year, with prices ranging from 12,000 to 22,500 Tanzanian shillings ($4-8), according to CNN. The innovation comes as 600 million Africans lack electricity access. In Tanzania, fewer than half of mainland households have power, forcing families to rely on expensive kerosene lamps.
The backpacks, manufactured in James's Bulale factory employing 65 staff, feature flexible solar panels that charge during students' walks to school. One day of sunlight provides six to eight hours of reading light, making them more cost-effective than kerosene lamps commonly used in Tanzania, where fewer than half of mainland households have electricity access.
The backpacks, manufactured in James's Bulale factory employing 65 staff, feature flexible solar panels that charge during students' walks to school. One day of sunlight provides six to eight hours of reading light, making them more cost-effective than kerosene lamps commonly used in Tanzania, where fewer than half of mainland households have electricity access.
When ya get old (Score:1)
...you can switch to a solar-powered toupee.
Re: (Score:2)
Unlike the USA which subsidizes the oil that's destroying the planet.
I don't understand (Score:4, Interesting)
Presumably they have some kind of dwelling, wouldn't a permanent installation on its roof - even if just chucking this device up there - result in more power collected, and less risk of damage to it?
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Because "we put a solar panel with a battery on the roof" doesn't generate favorable international press and, likely, investment.
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They occasionally try this in rural India; they'll set up a small solar grid, enough for maybe half a dozen homes, and the unit usually winds up being stolen and/or sold for the metals. My suspicion is that the backpacks are too small to be worth the trouble.
I'm glad that TFA at least mentioned the increase in indoor air quality. Burning kerosene (or worse, biomatter/bagasse) for light and heat is not great and I hope the backpacks bring some good to their long-term health.
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In terms of indoor lighting with unreliable infrastructure, there's as LED lamp out there that hangs off a hook and has a weight on a loop of line. Pull it all the way up, and your LED is gravity powered until the weight reaches the ground.
Turns out though.... Too dim and wouldn't charge a mobile phone. I'd have thought "put more weight in the bag and add some gearing", but I guess not.
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Crabs in a bucket (Score:2)
They drag each other down.
But they'll just steal the backpacks.
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I'm assuming part of the goal is to give a certain kind of "ownership" on the light source. If it's in the book bag then this a a light for the child. This is a light for books. This is a light that is not easily repurposed by parents for performing work at night. That's not saying it can't happen but by being in the book bag there has to be an explicit decision to remove the light from the books and the child rather than a light source in a dwelling "evolve" into being used for work than education.
Anot
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1) not everyone owns the home they live in
2) not everyone has access to the roof of the building they live in
3) not everyone stays in the same home every night
4) the room where light is needed may be far from the roof requiring long wires that increase cost and reduce efficiency
5) unattended panels may be shaded by trees and other buildings for part of the day
6) unattended panels may eventually get covered in dust or debris reducing their efficiency
7) unattended panels may be stolen
Plus local manufacturing (Score:1)
It looks like the manufacturing for these are coming from within Tanzania too! That was a major issue with some of the "buy this thing and we will donate one to Africa" schemes; it would kill local industry.
Population (Score:2)
Tanzania has about 65million people today, forecasted to jump to 104 million in only 15 years (2040). It's not great to ding on sorta-charity types, but really people should be spending a lot of time figuring out how to moderate unsustainable population growth. Feels like there will be a lot of Malthusian style misery on the continent in coming years, especially as the climate rapidly changes
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We already know how to reduce population growth: Educate girls.
Which is exactly what this project is trying to do.
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Educating girls/women is important in its own right. But IMHO the reduction in fertility rates correlated with education is a second or third order effect. There are better ways to impact population more directly.
I suggest there is greater time pressure given "Approximately 68 percent of Tanzania's 61.1 million citizens live below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. 32 percent of the population are malnourished." wikipedia. There will not be time to wait for a generation or two of educated females (and ma
This actually works (Score:2)