In economically advantaged nations, it’s laborious to think about a time when electrical lighting wasn’t accessible in almost each residence, enterprise, and public facility. However in keeping with the World Economic Forum, the solar stays the first gentle supply for greater than 1 billion folks worldwide.
Referred to as gentle poverty, the dearth of entry to dependable, ample, synthetic gentle is skilled by lots of the world’s poorest folks. They depend on unsafe, inefficient lighting sources comparable to candles and kerosene lamps to carry out duties comparable to finding out, cooking, working, and doing family chores after nightfall.
Overcoming the stark distinction in dwelling situations is the main focus of IEEE Smart Lighting’s Let’s Make Light competition.
Open to anybody 18 or older, the competition seeks progressive lighting applied sciences that may be reasonably priced, accessible, and sustainable for folks now dwelling in excessive poverty.
The entry that finest responds to the problem—creating a lighting system that’s dependable and grid-independent and might be regionally manufactured and repaired—can be awarded a US $3,000 prize. The second prize is $2,000, and the third-place finisher receives $1,000.
The deadline for submissions is 1 November.
The competition’s origin
The Let’s Make Mild competitors was born out of a presentation on world lighting points, together with gentle poverty, given to IEEE Life Fellow John Nelson, then chair of IEEE Smart Village, and IEEE Fellow Georges Zissis, former chair of the IEEE Future Directions Committee.
Desirous to know extra about gentle poverty, Nelson forwarded the presentation to Toby Cumberbatch, who has in depth expertise in creating sensible options for communities dealing with the problem. Cumberbatch, an IEEE senior member, is a professor emeritus {of electrical} engineering on the Cooper Union, in New York Metropolis. For years, he taught his first-year engineering college students methods to create expertise to assist underserved communities.
“A profitable design must be usable by individuals who don’t even know what an on-off change is.” —Toby Cumberbatch
Cumberbatch’s candid response was that the concepts introduced didn’t adequately tackle the wants of impoverished finish customers he and his college students had been making an attempt to assist.
That led Zissis to create the Let’s Make Mild competitors in hopes that it might ignite a spark within the bigger IEEE neighborhood to develop applied sciences that would actually serve those that want it most. He appointed Cumberbatch as co-chair of the competitors committee.
Understanding the wealth hole
Final yr’s entries highlighted a major hole in understanding the elements behind gentle poverty, Cumberbatch says. The elements embrace restricted electrical grid entry and the lack to afford all however probably the most rudimentary merchandise. Cumberbatch says he and his college students have even encountered communities with nonmonetary economies.
Previous entries have failed to deal with the core problem of offering sensible and user-friendly lighting options.
Reflecting on some current submissions, Cumberbatch famous a elementary disconnect. “The entries included charging stations for electric vehicles and proposals to make use of lasers to gentle streets,” he says. “A profitable design must be usable by individuals who don’t even know what an on-off change is.”
To make sure this yr’s contestants higher tackle the issue, IEEE Future Instructions launched a video illustrating the realities of poverty and the important qualities {that a} profitable lighting resolution should possess, comparable to being protected, clear, accessible, and reasonably priced.
“With the best assets,” the video’s narrator says, “folks dwelling in these distant communities will create new and higher methods to work and reside their lives.”
For extra particulars, go to the Let’s Make Mild competitors’s website.
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