Light at the end of the tunnel

From times to times, I have the feeling of beeing lost in the darkness of my thoughts. I end up just thinking of all the things that are wrong and it is difficult to look at the bright side of life. On days like these, I’m very happy to have my boyfriend who shows me the way out and helps me to see the light at the end of the tunnel (Being, so does my sister and my best friends, thank you all for those bright moments that you share with me). I would like to dedicate this post to all those who need a little light in their life and that’s why I want to tell you about the GravityLight Foundation.

About 1,2 billion people live without electricity, yet they need light especially in the evening to cook, to read, to educate themselves or for their children. These people usually use expensive, inefficient and even dangerous kerosene lamps to get light.

Kerosene lamps are not only dangerous for the people who use them, they are also harmful to the environment: with 3% of global CO2 emissions, they contribute to local overheating in the regions where they are needed, and thus the damage also affects the general globalwarming. Not to mention the health damage, especially in a small space and for the lungs of small children, the emissions are devastating, and it comes to serious diseases of the respiratory tract. Besides, overheating can lead to severe fires.

How does Gravitylight work?

The energy for the production of light is gained from the kinetic force by dropping a high-lying weight (this may be a sack of rocks or sand). While the weight is falling a generator is driven and produces the energy needed for the light.  In a few seconds you have up to 20 minutes of light, it does not need batteries and there is no charging time. At the same time, you do not have to worry about any additional costs, as GravityLight maintains itself.

Their contribution:

They do not want to provide the lamps for free, because in their opinion, this would only weaken the economy in the affected countries. Instead, they create new jobs and the opportunity for example for the people living in Kenya, to develop sales strategies. Different teams work together with the people in those regions and support them in their development. At the same time, awareness is created for clean energy, which can also affect other situations and issues. The general mission is to make kerosene lamps disappear from the scene!