I'm addicted to crank...

While stranded in the South Pacific on a thin coral atoll, moon hidden by the clouds, walking down dirt roads with only a a three dollar flashlight in hand, I oft wished I padded my rucksack a little bit better BEFORE I left the states.

The batteries we would buy in Kiribati worked, so that wasn't necessarily the root of my lighting problem, but the lifespan of said batteries was a definite issue. Their operational efficiency depended HEAVILY on the device being used. A Kasio [sic] keyboard, for instance, blasted at full volume by a neighbor practicing for an Independence Day botaki might need to be changed out every two songs or so, unless, of course, the neighbor is practicing at 3:00am...then the batteries had uncanny staying power. There was also the case of the "inconvenient crap-out" where a low-wattage item would die when most needed, say, during an aforementioned stroll down a rock cluttered dirt road...barefoot...three miles from your home...during the rainy season.

Batteries are, and will continue to be, a MAJOR issue in developing nations as more and more technology and goods continue to be introduced without a proper means to maintain and dispose of them after life has ended. So you can imagine my elation when I stumbled upon this website (while the technology is by no means new, continue reading to see why Freeplay is nevertheless a modernistic company):

Freeplay Energy is a damn cool website devoted to all products "crank." From weather band radios to eye-blinding LED flashlights, freeplay has it all.

From their site:

At Freeplay Energy, we believe in developing environmentally-responsible products to empower the global village. As the original creators of the famous wind up radio, we now develop and manufacture a wide range of electronic products distributed throughout the world. Freeplay’s award winning self-sufficient products harness human, solar, and rechargeable energy to power durable portable devices from radios to lanterns to mobile phone chargers. Forget disposable batteries. Our self-sustainable power solutions provide energy for life, while respecting the social and environmental impact on our planet. You can rely on Freeplay Energy products to work anytime and anywhere.

Freeplay Energy’s commitment to the planet goes well beyond the environment. Our products are engineered with every nation in mind. In developing countries – which have little or no access to reliable energy – we are pioneering, durable, innovative, rechargeable products that withstand the harshest climate and use. Our products offer convenience and security to some, and to others, enable critical communication, access to education and basic lighting at night to improve their quality of life.

What's more is that they provide a great product AND a great message. Established in 1998, the Freeplay Foundation "is committed to providing innovative and practical energy solutions and to ensuring sustained access to information and education via radio." More from their site:

The Freeplay Foundation aims to:

-facilitate sustained access to information and education for the poorest of the poor, especially children, women, refugees and the disabled.

-raise awareness of the role of radio broadcasting and communication in developing countries, disaster areas and regions of conflict.

-research opportunities where appropriate and alternative sources of energy can be applied to improve the lives of people in developing communities, especially children living on their own.

-seek sponsorship to initiate and support humanitarian communication initiatives.

My time on the islands might be over, but I might still buy crankable flashlight...not because I need it, but because this company actually "gets it."

The Sustainable Times also has a really wonderful article.

1 million dollars if you let me sleep with your country...

Remember that post a while back about 9-volts not saving the world?

Remember the inventiveness of the children of Guinea?

Well, the World Bank Group is trying to shake things up in the $38 billion (B!) fuel-based global lighting market with a new design competition.

Fancy yourself the Bono of bulbs? Then why not register and compete in Lighting Africa!

From their website:

Lighting Africa is a World Bank Group initiative aimed at providing up to 250 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa with access to non-fossil fuel based, low cost, safe, and reliable lighting products with associated basic energy services by the year 2030.

Currently, 1.7 billion people worldwide are without electricity. The problem is most acute in Sub-Saharan Africa where over 500 million people presently lack modern energy, with rural electricity access rates as low as 2%.

Among the poorest of the poor, lighting is often the most expensive item among their energy uses, typically accounting for 10-15% of total household income. Yet, while consuming a large share of scarce income, fuel based lighting provides little in return.

New advancements in lighting technology, such as compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs), promise clean, portable, durable, lower cost, and higher quality lighting. The challenge is to make these products accessible to the half billion "energy poor" in Africa. With expenditures on fuel based lighting estimated at US$38 billion annually, the potential exists to engage the international lighting industry in this new market area, while serving consumers, bolstering local commerce, creating jobs, enhancing incomes, cleaning the air, and improving health, safety, and quality of life.

Plus, their little satellite image of Africa at night is pretty cool. I think I can see my house.

So back to the previous posts....

A recipe for winning the Lighting Africa competition (I love the recipe schtick...creative gold...if you ever hear one at a wedding reception, duck and cover).

1) Take the best invention ever created
2) Fold in half a cup of Pedal-A-Watt
3) Add a dash of ingenuity with William Kamkwamba and others
4) Toss in three sprinkles of human powered zero-emissions
5) Encourage technological advancement without pity (I guess that would be considered baking)

-and-

Viola.

Seriously though, does it really take a $200,000 prize to come up with a solution? How much is this problem/will this problem be over-thought until we've blown it up into some abusively researched acrylic monstrosity, decorated to the tilt in Western design stereotypes by people with no understanding of the affecting cultural and socioeconomic norms and traditions of another country?

I'm just frustrated. The designs (typically) have no staying power and never really pan out. If they do, they're implemented with little to no follow-up by an organization that donated the time (see: their name in lights). Parts break, people remain untrained to fix and/or operate the machinery...all goes to waste.

Fortunately, I'm always optimistic that my pessimism is wrong.

Seriously though, check out Afrigadget. There's some amazing stuff there. Check it out already. Go.

9Volts won't save the world, but....

While stationed as a volunteer in the Republic of Kiribati, the lack of twilight lighting was a major issue for volunteers and students alike. Given the fact that many of the houses in the surrounding government stations would have solar or generator-powered fluorescent lighting, they were still of no help to the volunteers and I-Kiribati (native Kiribati) in the outer villages who only had oil lamps in which to study, cook and work. In some areas of the world children are able to improvise. However, isolated countries like Kiribati have little to offer in terms of industrial faculty and resourcefulness (when Air Kiribati was actually running, we only had one scheduled flight to and from our island per week).

We might take efficient lighting for granted in developed countries but as you can see from the Peace Corps project donation site, power and energy are on-going projects in a large portion of under-developed countries. With the understanding that lighting facilitates a higher standard of living, I've been looking anxiously for a simple solution.

I happened across Mathmos.com and and lit up when I saw their 9Volt project:


Clean, simple, undemanding design at its best.

BUT-there's always a but...


Are they over-priced? Yes. (I love the wine glasses)
At a sale price of 5 for $100, I don't see them falling into the hands of Guinea seventh graders any time soon.

Are they renewable? Not necessarily.
As the US industrialized, our position in the global pecking order proffered us the ability to progress at any speed we felt necessary - with or without the concerns of the environment at our conscience (See: Northwest Atlantic Cod - even in the early 90's!). So while many of these countries might not have a capable means to dispose of the batteries, it is unfortunately viable that they are so readily available. Why not afford them the same opportunities we had so that we may only need to teach one generation?* So...

...are the batteries really a problem? Not necessarily.
Take this design and do what inventors have been doing for years: run with it. Replace the battery with solar cells...what about higher lumen LED's... or non-electrochemical envirofriendly cells...maybe a secondary battery with a crank chargeable attachment for a bike chain...include a hand crank to store the charge...*subsidize the distribution with the help of a battery directive...and so on and so on and so on. If a concept like OLPC is plausible, then a battery/LED project is a piece of cake!

Just some thoughts for your Thursday morning...

Remembering Rotterdam...

It isn't very often that I'm floored by landscape installations, but West 8's City on Fire/City in Bloom is a sight to be held.


The temporary installation commemorates the 1940 bombing of Rotterdam by the Nazis - a moment the razed an entire city to the ground. The flower sculpture is comprised of 64,000 red and purple flowers meant to illustrate the history of a once-burning city, now in bloom. The display was supposed to run through the end of June, but was extended by popular demand.

Here's an awesome video on the construction and preparation involved. The video begins with a German poem in the first 53 seconds, but moves on after that:



Additionally, West 8 was also chosen to map out and mark the fire limits (Brandgrens) of the city. From the website:


The Rotterdam Brandgrens (the fire limits) marks the areas of the city that were destroyed by the bombing on 14 May 1940 and the ensuing fires that broke out. The bombing only lasted fifteen minutes but managed to destroy practically all of Rotterdam’s city centre. Earlier this year CBK Rotterdam invited designers Wieki Somers, Atelier van Lieshout, Studio Anthon Beeke and West 8 to present their ideas on how to mark the fire limits. A jury was asked to choose one design. On Monday 14 May 2007 the winning design by West 8 was announced by vice mayor of Rotterdam, Lucas Bolsius.


West 8's design uses light objects to mark the fire limits. An iconic image of a flame is incorporated in circular light objects on the ground and in several information stations, that together form the marking. The image of the flame shows a visual connection with Zadkine's statue commemorating the bombing of Rotterdam. The light objects come to life at night when the solar-powered LEDs illuminate the icon. This physical marking of the fire limits is coupled with information about the historic meaning of the bombing, accessible through the information stations and a website.

Green is made of people...

Stomp the yard? No.

Step by Step with a New Design On the Block? No.

Walkin' on Sunshine? No.

So many punarific ways I could go here, but I'm not going to do it...


Ever live underneath a dance studio? Ever had bad enough neighbors that it felt like it?

People-powered "Crowd Farms" are growing more and more popular, harnessing the power of movement and motion created in every day situations. If you've ever experienced the aforementioned stomping, imagine the energy generated by 1000 commuters in a subway station.


Two graduate students from MIT’s Department of Architecture have figured out a way to harness all that movement and use it as a source of sustainable energy. James Graham and Thaddeus Jusczyk proposed that energy micro-generation is the wave of the future, soon surpassing large power plants in energy production, by creating a chair that exploits the passive act of sitting for power generation. The weight of the body on the chair spins a flywheel, powering a dynamo that lights four LEDs, putting to use some of the energy that is usually dissipated into the surrounding architecture.

I have a Liberal Arts degree. Would you like fries with that?

Although the article states the application would not work in residential situations since, "a single human step can only power two 60W light bulbs for one flickering second," it does state that if you "get a crowd in motion, multiply that single step by 28,527 steps...the result is enough energy to power a moving train for one second."

Think Vegas strip. Grand Central Station. Mall of America. Fried Twinkie line at the Ohio State Fair.

Somebody get these boys some seed money.