Slashdot Mirror
LEDs Lighting Up the African Darkness
Peace Corps Online writes "In a non-electrified society, life is defined by the sun and little is accomplished once it sets around 6 pm. Only 19 percent of rural areas in Ghana have electricity. The rest use foul-smelling kerosene lamps to light their huts, which pollute, provide little light and are major fire hazards. But now Philips has partnered with KITE, a not-for-profit Ghanaian organization, to bring artificial light to villages that have no electricity. The new Philips products include a portable lantern which provides bright white light where it is needed, the Dynamo Multi LED self-powered (wind-up) flashlight that provides 17 minutes of light from two minutes hand winding, and the 'My Reading Light,' which is a solar-powered reading light with built-in rechargeable battery. 'People can now do things in the evening,' says Harriette Amissah-Arthur, KITE's director. 'If you could only see the joy these products bring the villagers. You look at their faces; you have to see it to believe it.'"
A small price to pay for not being eaten by a Grue.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
So Philips is the agent of the Devil?
think of this:
"In an electrified society, life is defined by the television and little is accomplished once it starts around 6 pm".
Philips makes lots of TVs too.... case proven :)
My Reading Light? I'm getting annoyed with people naming everything "My xxx". Was this started by Windows? Or was it "My Little Pony". My God. These people should hire some open source developers to name their products.
banning incandescents is stupid. What do you use in the oven?
Indeed! Neither CFLs nor LEDs give off enough heat to work in an oven.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!