Sweet new way to light up your night...I wonder if I can get one for camping?
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An inventor has designed an affordable solar-power light bulb that can shine for four hours and last four years to help wean people off the kerosene lamps commonly used in poorer nations.
Denver-based inventor Stephen Katsaros has a long history of useful inventions that have found shelf life, and the solar bulb -- named Noreka -- is the latest. He plans to mass-produce 600,000 to 1.2 million bulbs a month in a factory in China, and they will retail wholesale for $6. The retail cost can reach $15.
The bulbs contain four solar panels as well as a computer chip to prolong battery life. Nearly 1.6 billion people worldwide do not have electricity, and a quarter of the world still burns fuel in lamps for light. Emissions can reach up to 1.9 million tons of carbon dioxide a day, according to a report from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Katsaros is planning to sell his bulbs, he says, and will seek to make a profit in countries that can afford the bulbs, such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Nigeria. The business model needs to be able to grow and sustain itself.
"This is not a charity," he says. "We are using capitalism as a method to improve people's lives" (Jason Blevins, Denver Post, July 10). --GV
