Light up the world

Once a month or so, a direct sales outfit leaves a clutch of tempting giftables in the office where I work. You know the kind of thing: CD format of your favorite golden oldies, scrapbooking delights, cool tools. This month's offering included a crank-powered lantern with white LED light source. I felt as if I were surfing on a wave of the future. "This is so tremendous," I said to my coworkers. "This is a Canadian invention and we are living in the tomorrow!"

Recalling reading about Dr. David Irvine-Halliday's* (how could I forget that name?) work to bring light-to-read-by to unelectrified parts of the world, the exact beginning of white LED was unclear in my memory (and after hours of internet research, remains so), but his work to create a power source to make them glow was an odyssey in itself.

Once Irvine-Halliday had satisfied himself just one of the tiny light-emitting diodes would produce enough light to read by, there was still the challenge of powering the light beam. He ruled out alkaline and dry-cell batteries. They are hazardous to the environment when they are exhausted, not to mention expensive. At the time (1990s), wind and solar power were also too expensive.

But that old car battery - 12-volt, lead-acid - might do the job! Such batteries, he figured, could last up to five years, electrifying a low-energy light. Pedal power seemed the way to go. Not only would the spinning axle charge the battery, it could be geared up to spin wool or cotton, grind grain or sharpen knives or axes. Cranking up a personal lantern is just a small step from the pedal concept.

Irvine-Halliday's project has provided light for many countries (including Bolivia, Guatemala, India, Mexico and Nepal) around the world, countries which now most commonly use solar power, followed by hydro and pedal power.

The last time we had a power outage of significant duration, friends, who came to wait it out next to our wood-burning stove, had allergic reaction to the kerosene lamps, set blankets on fire with the candles and burned through a dozen D cells in the flashlights. So, guess who brought home a crank-powered LED lantern?

The charge seems to hold up well and the glow coming from an array of tiny diodes light up the room. Now I hear of directional-lighting tools using white LED, and that we may soon be replacing the incandescent light bulbs we are so used to - not with little fluorescent corkscrews, but white LED arrays set in an "Edison" base.

Is this a case of "The more things change, the more they stay the same" or, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" I'm just really glad there are inventive people making sure there's light in my world! *Dr. David Irvine-Halliday, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Calgary, founder of Light up the World Foundation www.lightuptheworld.org www.lightuptheworld.org/> )