Greener Gadgets
Posted by Big Gav in gravia, led lighting
The Greener Gadgets award for 2008 has been won by a LED light powered by gravity. Sounds like some crazy free energy scam but its actually just smart design. The device is estimated to last for 200 years.
Gravia is an LED-lit floorlamp energized by people. To light Gravia, the user places a mass approximately 48" above the ground, that, in falling, powers a mechanism, generating electricity. Gravia harnesses the potential energy imparted by the user, rather than relying on any existing electrical infrastructure.
The design goal of Gravia is to provide light in a room (600-800 lumens—roughly equal to one 40 watt incandescent lightbulb), over a period of 4 hours, using people to generate power.
The precedent for this lamp lies within horology—the science of keeping time. Gravia recalls the archetypes of 'grandfather clock', 'hourglass' and 'wind-up clock'. User input provides the potential energy for these devices, and maintains a cycle of timely upkeep for the life of the object.
Gravia is also metaphor for an understanding of social activism. The mechanism of social activism is like a flywheel, where each participant in society is not necessarily required to provide all of the energy to power a movement, but instead, contributes with others, bits at a time to accomplish positive change
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