By Anupum Pant
A $5 lamp that lights up using gravity can be used without electricity or batteries, over and over again with no running costs. Impressive enough? There is more.
A British company, after working for 4 years on this project, with an aim to replace kerosene lamps, started an internet fundraising campaign on Indiegogo and successfully raised about 7 times more than what they had aimed for – aimed for raising a fund of $55,000 and ended up raising $399,590. They had invented the Gravity Light.
Gravity light uses the force of gravity to light up – a free, completely reliable and totally unlimited source of energy. For it to start, the user is supposed to lift up a hanging weight of about 10 kg. And there! As the bag full of dirt, stones or sand starts coming down slowly, it lights up an LED light. The weight keeps coming down for about 30 minutes and then it has to be raised again. It generated a very minuscule amount of electricity and manages to give out a much brighter light than a kerosene lamp.
The energy generated from it can also be used to charge batteries, charge phones, run a radios etc, with attached accessories.
Interestingly, the company has plans to develop various other gravity powered solutions. So, in the future, we might probably see a way to reach the internet without batteries or electricity.
Other interesting lighting ideas:
[Gravia lamp] [Water + Bleach lamp] [Algae + CO2 lamp]