Barefoot Power Lamp
invented by Sam and Harry Andrews and Steward Craine
( People's choice )
Barefoot Power Lamp
The Barefoot Power Lamp provides a small compact LED light that is bright enough to read by, simple and robust so that it needs very little maintenance, and is powered with a detachable solar cell.
About the Inventor
Brothers, Sam and Harry Andrews are from the Huon Valley in Tasmania who now spend most of their working time, along with the other co-founder of the company, Stewart Craine, in various far flung regions where they are supervising manufacture and distribution of their lights to the places where they are most needed.
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Read what others have said or have your say.
Stewart and Harry both worked for Hydro Tasmania, the largest renewable energy generator in Australia.
Stewart had spent 3 years prior to working with Hydro Tasmania in Nepal doing micro-hydro development on a volunteer basis. Harry was a keen traveller, mainly in South East Asia, and seeing the huge disparity between living standards he was always edging my career towards development work.
Barefoot Power has developed and manufactures an affordable entry-level LED lamp product range, which they call the FIREFLY – (but which we are just referring to as the Barefoot Power Lamp.)
The small “Firefly” range can be charged via a solar panel or with AC power (for instance from a local shop with a generator)
The smallest lamp will provide light for 5-6 hours with a fully charged battery. The larger 4V4Ah systems will provide light for up to 20 hours.
Barefoot are also in the final design stages for further 12 Volt household systems that build on this single LED light. These will utilise AC-compatible wiring so that households can subsequently be integrated into a high-voltage grid.
Part of the beauty of the system is that it can be operated as a stand-alone unit using the solar panel when there is no power available to a village, but then, if the grid does come to the house you can still use the lamp by plugging it into the mains and can sell on the solar panel. The household never loses money on what they have purchased, even if the technology improves down the track.
Quote of the Week
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones." - musical innovator John Cage