These LED Lamps Use Salt Water To Illuminate Rooms And Charge Smartphones

Many Kenyans without electricity go through a lot especially students who study using their kerosene lanterns that fill the house with chocking smoke. M-KOPA provided high quality energy affordable to most people. The initiative is the global leader of “pay-as-you-go” energy for off-grid customers and they claim to have connected more than 200,000 homes in East Africa. M-KOPA is a great initiative but not affordable to some communities who can only afford natural water and sun because they are free. This LED Lamps powered by salt and water is a great revolution that if adopted by Kenyans it can bring the change we cry for.

SALt(Sustainable Alternative Lighting) has developed an LED lamp that will light up rooms and even charge smartphones using easily accessible ingredients like salt and water. The innovation uses only a cup of saltwater and can really help the communities living along the coastal lines.

The idea was founded by Aisa Mijeno, a member of Greenpeace Philippines and part of the Engineering faculty at De La Salle University — Lipa. While visiting a Filipino mountain tribe, she saw that they depended on kerosene and moonlight to do their evening chores. She and Raphael Mijeno (co-founder and CFO) decided to create an alternative source of lighting that would be more efficient, safe, and sustainable.

The communities were living along the coastal lines so creating lamps that use saltwater made sense. They decided to come up with lamps that can be powered by either seawater or a homemade saline solution (a glass of water and 2 tablespoons of salt). The design uses Galvanic cells similar to batteries, yet relies on a non-toxic saline solution instead of potentially harmful electrolytes. Used eight hours a day, the lamps have an anode lifespan of six months.

The design features a USB plug where smartphones can be charged. Although the Philippines is SALt’s target at the moment, the company ultimately hopes to increase availability, which is good news for anyone wants one of these handy lights in their survival kit.

Digital Trends reports that SALt lamps are in the mass production stage with the goal of being introduced to the market in late 2015 or early 2016. The company will first produce lamps for its target communities, as well as those of the NGOs and foundations with which it partners. A price hasn’t been set yet, but according to SALt’s website, its goal is to “target an affordable price that can also support and sustain the flow of [its] production.”

Also read: M-KOPA scales up solar energy distribution in Uganda

 

 

Erick Vateta564 Posts

--- Erick Vateta is a lawyer by training, poet, script and creative writer by talent, a model, and tech enthusiast. He covers International tech trends, data security and cyber attacks.

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