Michael Suttner’s solar powered Lightie LED light
While the world moves towards stylish and energy efficient lighting solutions, there are some parts of the world which are improvised or underdeveloped. The electricity supply is a farfetched dream for the people living in these parts. In such circumstances, paraffin is the most favored solution for illumination of the dwellings. Paraffin fumes are highly toxic when burned and they add to the emissions too.
African designer, Michael Suttner, who is a social entrepreneur as well, understand this sensitive issue. As a solution to this problem, he has come out with a very simple and eco-friendly solution that’ll harness the solar power to illuminate the dwellings without spending much on electricity generation. It’ll save these people from high number of deaths due to toxic fumes of paraffin.
The design includes a 300 lumens LED and solar panels, which are designed to fit into a standard soda bottle or commonly used flasks. The light could be inserted through the mouth of the bottle. The bottle makes a perfect waterproof cover for the bulb. With a 5-8 hours exposure to sun light, it can provide light upto 3 hours with its brightest setting, while at 120 lumen; it’ll go on for 6-8 hours.
The rechargeable batteries are included into the small test tube like cavity, and the photovoltaic cells are wrapped around the outer surface of this cavity.
Regarding the Lightie, designer Suttner says, “‘the Llightie is an invention, which I hope will become a complete replacement to paraffin-based lighting solutions. Every year fumes and fires from them kill approximately 1.5 million people world-wide, mostly women and children. Millions more suffer from emphysema and other respiratory diseases, yet these dirty lighting solutions remain the go-to choice because of their short-term affordability factor and availability.”
The design is simple and it is affordable for the unprivileged population living under improvised conditions. Moreover, for emergency situations or in far away areas, where the grid electricity supply isn’t available, Lightie is an adorable option.
Via: Gizmag