Bringing the sun into homes of poor

A low cost solar powered Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lantern developed by student members of Engineer’s Without Borders (EWB) chapter of University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Association for India’s Development (AID) Chapter of JITM has been selected for this year’s Mondialogo award.

Two billion people light their homes with oil lanterns. These lamps produce a miniscule amount of light, but due to their inefficiency are estimated to result in additional consumption of one-third of the total energy used globally for all electrical home lighting, with a disproportionately large corresponding contribution to carbon dioxide and soot emissions.

Almost 800 project proposals from around the world competed for this year’s award aimed at fostering inter-cultural dialogue in solving problems of the developing world. The award is sponsored by UNESCO and Daimler-Chrysler.

In a continuing trend, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have recently become more affordable and more power efficient. LEDs operate at low voltages, and have incredible efficiencies at very low power levels (currently over 30 lumens per watt at one watt).

Solar LED lantern that has been designed is equal to a kerosene lantern in usefulness and comparable in light output. The goal is a light source with a power consumption close to one watt.

This will allow the use of a small photovoltaic panel to charge a 12 volt 1.2 to 1.5 amp-hour battery. Its design uses a number of smaller LEDs wired in a parallel series arrangement.

This design has the ability to direct and focus the light without reflectors, uses only one-third the current, and has the resulting capacity to employ a 12-volt battery and photovoltaic cell.

Kerosene hurricane lanterns (the most common type of oil lantern in the developing world) cost Rs 200, are estimated to last 2.5 years, and are generally used to burn Rs 60 to Rs 70 in kerosene per month.

The proposed solar lantern has been made to last five years, with Rs 180, battery replacement required every twenty months. So the long term cost-of-ownership for the solar lantern is preliminarily estimated to be 35% that of the kerosene lantern.

With the help of a grant from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), students of JITM in collaboration with Engineer’s Without Borders (EWB) member students from University of Illinois have recently fabricated 80 prototype lamps for trial in villages near JITM.

This technology has the opportunity to improve the quality of life of the poor in the developing world, improve health by improving indoor air quality, decrease global dependence on petroleum, and make a surprisingly significant step towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.