In economically advantaged international locations, it’s onerous to think about a time when electrical lighting wasn’t out there in almost each residence, enterprise, and public facility. However based on the World Financial Discussion board, the solar stays the first mild supply for greater than 1 billion folks worldwide.
Referred to as mild poverty, the dearth of entry to dependable, sufficient, synthetic mild is skilled by most of the world’s poorest folks. They depend on unsafe, inefficient lighting sources reminiscent of candles and kerosene lamps to carry out duties reminiscent of learning, cooking, working, and doing family chores after nightfall.
Overcoming the stark distinction in residing circumstances is the main focus of IEEE Sensible Lighting’s Let’s Make Mild competitors.
Open to anybody 18 or older, the competition seeks progressive lighting applied sciences that may be inexpensive, accessible, and sustainable for folks now residing in excessive poverty.
The entry that finest responds to the problem—creating a lighting system that’s dependable and grid-independent and could be domestically manufactured and repaired—might 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 international lighting points, together with mild poverty, given to IEEE Life Fellow John Nelson, then chair of IEEE Sensible Village, and IEEE Fellow Georges Zissis, former chair of the IEEE Future Instructions Committee.
Eager to know extra about mild poverty, Nelson forwarded the presentation to Toby Cumberbatch, who has intensive expertise in creating sensible options for communities dealing with the difficulty. 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 learn how to create expertise to assist underserved communities.
“A successful design needs to 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 offered didn’t adequately handle the wants of impoverished finish customers he and his college students had been attempting to assist.
That led Zissis to create the Let’s Make Mild competitors in hopes that it will ignite a spark within the bigger IEEE group 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 big hole in understanding the components behind mild poverty, Cumberbatch says. The components 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 latest submissions, Cumberbatch famous a elementary disconnect. “The entries included charging stations for electrical automobiles and proposals to make use of lasers to mild streets,” he says. “A successful design needs to be usable by individuals who don’t even know what an on-off change is.”
To make sure this yr’s contestants higher handle the issue, IEEE Future Instructions launched a video illustrating the realities of poverty and the important qualities {that a} profitable lighting answer should possess, reminiscent of being protected, clear, accessible, and inexpensive.
“With the proper assets,” the video’s narrator says, “folks residing in these distant communities will create new and higher methods to work and stay their lives.”
For extra particulars, go to the Let’s Make Mild competitors’s web site.
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