London-based designers Martin Riddiford and Jim Reeves from therefore.com have spent 4 years developing ‘GravityLight’—an eco-friendly gravity-powered lamp.
The US$5 lamp requires no batteries or fuel, and it only takes three seconds to lift a weight to power the GravityLight for half an hour.
This green lamp comes with a ballast bag, which the user has to fill with sand or rocks.
Once the bag is filled, the user can then hang it from the lamp—creating 30 minutes of light from the bag’s descent.
According to the designers, they said that the GravityLight was designed to replace kerosene lamps, which are more costly and harmful to the environment.
“Burning kerosene also comes with a financial burden: kerosene for light ALONE can consume 10 to 20% of a household’s income,” said the designers, “This burden traps people in a permanent state of subsistence living, buying capfuls of fuel for their daily needs, as and when they can.”
“The burning of kerosene for lighting also produces 244 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.”
The designers are currently raising funds for the GravityLight on crowdsourcing platform Indiegogo.
[via Deciwatt]