Plus Minus Design, a team of innovative designers in the UK which have done design work for the Solar Aid charity around the Solar Orb, now have another solar design idea centered around their new Plus Minus Solar mission of being “dedicated to the design and development of innovative humanitarian products for the developing world.” This one is called the Solar Pebble.
The Solar Pebble is a solar powered lamp targeted for use in rural Africa, as a humanitarian product. Designer Tom Weales sese the Solar Pebble idea as an eco and health friendly alternative to the fact that “in the world’s poorest regions including sub-Saharan Africa, reliance on kerosene burning lanterns kills one person every 20 seconds.” The LED Solar Pebble, as it is designed, looks to change that.
Features of the Solar Pebble include being powered by batteries that are charged via an integrated solar panel, being able to charge mobile devices like cell phones, a ratchet handle that allows the product to be carried and angled when standing or suspended and the ability to strap it to a backpack for daytime charging. Some of these features seem to be more focused upon this item’s use in developed nations as a back up power supply, while in rural Africa it seems to be seen as being a method that allows families to carry on business after dark, to help children study into the evenings, to provide clean lighting to replace choking kerosene and to do all this for around one tenth of the annual cost of fossil fuel burning lanterns.
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