Researchers from UTEC recently created a system that leverages microorganisms found in plants to power a lamp. However, the team mentioned plans to retail the lamp in the future – a purchase that is simply unattainable for half of Peru’s population living on less than $2/day. (via UTEC)
Growing up in the jungles of Peru is no easy feat. When you aren’t fighting off jaguars and thugs, you’re struggling to keep your home’s electricity running despite the harsh elements. One week there’s a flood. The next week there’s a vicious rainstorm, all leaving you without basic electricity to illuminate your home. But all of that is about to change.
What if there was a way to use the rainforest to generate electricity? That’s exactly the question Peruvian researchers from the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología asked.
While remote villages may not have the same infrastructure for energy resources as larger, more developed regions, rainforests have a plethora of plant life. Microorganisms called geobacters living in soil actually give off electrons, so researchers got to thinking about how they could use those electrons to give local villagers the gift of light.
By potting a plant in a wooden pot with a metal conductor embedded in the soil, researchers were able to collect the electrons expended by geobacters, and then store that energy in a battery. The battery is connected to a low-energy, high output LED lamp that can be powered for up to two hours a day on the electrons the geobacters expend. (So simple, right? Wish I thought of that. That old school experiment!)
Researchers are still in the testing phase, but have already given out 10 prototypes to local village families to gauge the efficacy of the Plantalámpara. Researchers have indicated an intention to sell the device, but depending on the price, it raises questions of whether or not rural, poor Peruvians of the rainforest will be able to afford what is considered such a basic necessity in most of the world – light.
Rates of inequality and poverty run high in Peru. According to The World Bank, as many as half of all Peruvians live in poverty. With this, 20% of the population lives in extreme poverty, earning well below the $2/day basic living income. Inequality is highest in the cities, such as Lima, and poverty is worst in the Andean Highlands and rural areas.
UTEC researchers focused their study on the habitants of Pucallpa, Ucayali, Peru. According to the FAO, this region is an important agricultural area in the Amazonian lowlands, but is still rural and poverty run rampant in the area; as high as 70.5%, according to the government page for Ucayali.
If the earnings of the local people do not exceed $2 a day for basic necessities, asking for payment in exchange for the Plantalámpara might be a tall order. Surely, the lamp’s production is not free, but is there no better way?
The research UTEC conducted was very likely supported by a grant. Why not secure additional funding to distribute these lamps to locals, or teach them how to make one at home? Simply creating a technology for the poor and impoverished is not enough. It is a great start, but its sale simply not feasible.
This is not to take away from the innovation UTEC researchers created. It is a true innovation that can help billions of people globally. The reality must, however, be considered. If this product is to have any impact at all, it must be given away.
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