Gravity Powered Lights

and I was only emphasizing that they couldn't possibly give one to everyone that could it.

"The World Bank reports that in 2001 per capita household consumption (in constant 1995 US dollars) was $299. Household consumption includes expenditures of individuals, households, and nongovernmental organizations on goods and services, excluding purchases of dwellings." Togo, Africa annual income $299 or $25/month. Even $3.50 is 14% of total monthly income and is about the limit potential customers last year were willing to spend on window screens (all, not per window) to keep flies away from their children to reduce the chances of malaria.

gravitylight.org and from the funding site "The GravityLight Foundation is a UK registered charity, so please let us know if you are a UK tax payer to enable us to claim Gift Aid from the UK government. " (the giving away free part was in reference to Hans' comment saying they would most likey be given away free)

My comments were only intended to express an overall observation of companies with great ideas in theory that end up being out of financial reach of the stated target market and even hit the U.S. shelves with a seemingly premium retail price. If this company succeeds I will be glad, I hope they prove me wrong. With no mention of target price my spidey sense is tingling though. Time will tell.

 

Yup, I totally agree. When I see it I classify it as a clue and that sets me off looking for the sites true purpose. In this case, they still aren't 100% forthcoming as they did reference a foundation but left room for there also to be a commercial for profit version also.

 

For anyone who often has access to power but may be occasionally without power, I would suggest getting one of the cellphone power banks with a light on it. I have the EasyAcc U-Bright 6000. It will put out 40-50 lumens continuously for about 3 days. Obviously you will turn it off during the day so you have almost 6 nights worth of emergency light from a single charge. It will also charge phones and some tablets. I had mine in my pocket while shopping at Robinson's grocery store in the mall when power went out and didn't immediately come back on. It was total darkness because the Philippines does not seem to believe that a certain percentage of fluorescent lights in a commercial building should have emergency ballasts. I think I spent about $23 USD on it and it's one of the best investments I ever made. I have had good luck with EasyAcc products, they aren't the cheapest but I think good value.

I just looked and I don't see the U-Bright 6000 offered anymore. There is a U-bright 5000 ($17 US) that puts out 3 times the light that mine did but only for 10 hours.

There is a U-Bright 3350 that is old style like mine that sells on Amazon.com for $13 US. I might pick up one of these. To double my lighting in an emergency or in case my other gets damaged. Been reliable so far but nothing is perfect.

I find the 40 lumens is ok for general purposes, beats candles, you would need to point it or reflect it at a page to read by but I would rather have more time with light than brighter light if the worst happened.

 

Mine will stay on with 2 quick pushes of the button. One push just lights the charge remaining indicator lights. I keep a Ravpower 10,400 mah battery bank for charging phones in the house should there be no power. It's scarcely bigger than a deck of cards but too dense to carry in a pocket.