Gravity Powered Lights

Except bullets cost money. Lifting 12kg on pulleys is not all that difficult....and it's free, unlike candles and kerosene.

I have a candle sitting on the coffee and kitchen table at all times....never know when the power is going to go out here, batteries for flashlights are expensive and the cheaply made Chinese solar lights available here are not very reliable in my experience (and at 1k/light they ain't cheap....or even close to being a good value).

Yeah, they still sell those here. I believe I've seen them at Handyman. Problem is they are next to worthless if you are doing something that requires both hands.....and I don't want to stand there and squeeze the thing while my SO is cooking.

I'll admit that for someone like me it just boils down to me being lazy/cheap/forgetful. I don't want to buy batteries, I certainly don't want to keep a flammable liquid in or around the house (or have open flames in the house), I forget to buy more candles until it's too late.....and I certainly don't want to sit there and squeeze or wind up dynamos by hand. But for the people this thing was designed for (the extremely impoverished) this thing could provide them with something we all take for granted....light. I think the only thing that would keep people from using it would be if the retail price was too high. I haven't seen anywhere on their site that says how much they will be charging for one yet. This seems to be the only thing they aren't covering on their website, everything else looks good to me.

 

I'm sure China will figure that part out soon enough.

 

I did donate $70 but as Hans stated it was a donation, not a purchase. I think the product is a good idea and it can help a lot of people. I also like that they are manufacturing these things in the local economy and providing jobs to the same people they are wanting to hep. I would like to do something similar here in the Philippines but I just won't invest in a country that doesn't let me own all of my investment. Not going to help a country that is basically refusing help. Only thing they are interested in here are handouts, not helping themselves. (Of course there are good people in the Philippines that would like to see the hostile environment towards investors to change....but there isn't enough of them to make a difference at this point.)

I think that the product has a market value (in the US) of about half of what I donated. I believe they would sell well in camping/outdoor stores for around $30-$50 (depending on location) and still give them good bit of profit so they can basically give these things away in Africa.

 

1.5 billion in the world that could use it.....really doubt they have any expectations on giving away that many. I think they are trying to emphasize how many people in the world are living off an electrical grid, not say that they are going to give one of these to every single one of them.

3.50? It is not designed to be a disposable item like kerosene is. I'd bet that families spend more than that a month on kerosene. $10-15 would be a reasonable price for something like this in the third world. Also, did you hear the part where they were being backed by a major oil company? (Shell if I remember correctly.)

They don't say anything about giving away these items. I don't remember seeing anywhere where they claim to be a charity. I suspect that they will help out the most desperate of families, but that's just a guess.