$2.00 LED Light Fixture
Based on many conversations in the developing world I have concluded that poor people don’t want junk. They don’t want a recycled pop can nailed to their ceilings to be their only source of electric light. They want things that look good, just like everyone else. In fact it’s really strange to think of them as “them” or different in some way. Poor people are people who don’t have much money.
The Appropriate Technology Collaborative has the results of our first project working with Designers and Design Students (we often work with Engineers and Engineering students). The photos that accompany this post are proof that designers have a lot to offer low income people and that real design doesn’t have to cost a lot, in fact real design may be cheaper than you could imagine. The photos from the project are here Flickr Photostream
ShineOn designed by gregorysung and leading a team of researchers from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Parsons Paris School of Design have designed and engineered Shine On, a low cost solar/LED lighting system. The rechargeable lighting system can be produced for less than $2 US (not including solar panels) and provides 10 watts of lights versus otherwise environmentally hazerdous and traditional karoseen lamps used in rural Guatamalan villages where the project focused its efforts.
These folks really put a lot of thought into what a light is, how it functions and how to make something really cool without spending a lot of money. Moreover they designed the lights so that they can be built in the country where they are going to be used. Designer Lights = Local Jobs!
Local Wood LED Light
Note the cool diffuser – it’s a recycled water bottle cap. Used here it looks great, you would never guess it was recycled. The translucent bottle cap diffuses the harsh LED light without absorbing too many photons. The light is on a cord so that it can be relocated to different parts of the room. We could cluster several of these to make a “chandelier” in the center of a room + have long enough cords so that the lights could reach all parts of a single room house.
Designer are very cool.
The possibilities are endless.
for more photos, check out http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=shine+on+led+&m=text and to learn more about our design partner gregorysung, check out: gregorysung.com
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The use of university-level classroom projects centered around appropriate technology have been shown to be successful in forging the connection between physics and social benefit, and increasing non-physics majors’ interest in the subject. This approach has the potential to use university students’ access to resources and testing equipment in furthering the development of appropriate technology. Please see: Joshua M. Pearce, “Teaching Physics Using Appropriate Technology Projects]”, The Physics Teacher, 45, pp. 164-167, 2007. pdf at: http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PHTEAH000045000003000164000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes