Gravity powered lantern

[PeaShooter]

Just saw this and thought I would pass it on as a potential long term light and power source for prepping. It is a gravity powered lantern.

A Lantern Powered by Gravity | This Could Be Big - Yahoo! News

 

[shibumiseeker]

Umm, it's a generator that uses a falling weight to generate small amounts of power, it's not a new concept, nor is it a particularly efficient way of generating power for lighting. The weight in the "bag" has to be lifted there by a person, much in the same way that if you push your car to the top of a hill you can coast down using gravity. Kids have been making these in science fair projects for many many years now. Any one of those hand cranked flashlights can do the same thing by winding a string around the shaft and attaching a weight.

Even if they can mass produce these things for a few bucks each (they say they are shooting for $5), small solar powered lights are still cheaper to make, less prone to mechanical failure, and don't require a person to perform work for the power.

 

[Liberty1911]

That's cool!

Even cooler that Peter Jackson invented it.

 

[Ogre]

I like it for the simple idea of charging phones or radios.