Energy-Generating Soccer Ball to Power Lamps, Save Lives
Oct-11-2010

It's a pretty ingenious idea, there's no doubt about that: a soccer ball that generates and stores energy while it's being kicked around. It generates enough energy to power an LED light or charge a small electronic device--which may not seem like much power. But in Africa, it could literally mean the difference between life and death.

Not to get melodramatic there, but it's true in a sense. A common way for developing nations to get light is to burn kerosene lamps. And these lamps are terribly harmful to human health-when burned indoors, they create an effect that's equivalent to inhaling two packs of cigarettes a day. It's hard to determine how many deaths are caused by kerosene, but there's no doubt there are far too many.

There's also the environmental impact to consider-kerosene lamps also contribute 190 million tons of carbon emissions to the atmosphere a year, or 38 million cars' worth. So wouldn't it be nice if all those dangerous, polluting kerosene lamps could be replaced with a community-building, exercise-promoting game? Indeed it would.

Enter the sOccket.

Green Inc. explains how the sOccket ball would work:

Early prototypes of the ball use an inductive coil mechanism similar to the technology found in shake-to-charge flashlights. The movement of the ball forces a magnet through a metal coil that "induces" voltage in the coil to generate electricity. For each 15 minutes of play, the ball can store enough energy to illuminate a small LED light for three hours.

The idea is fast gaining traction--soccer is incredibly popular in many developing nations, Africa included. Players are known to kick the ball around for 8 hours a day--so why not convert that into usable energy?
The group behind sOccket, which initially conceived the idea as a class project at Harvard, recently tested the ball in South Africa. It seemed to be a hit, even though it's not quite on par with normal balls: "Obviously, this won't be a regulation ball," Ms Lin, one of the founders, told Green Inc. "You won't see David Beckham using it. But it's a big improvement over some of the makeshift balls the kids create from things like old plastic bags."

Now, the group is faced with finding a way to make enough sOcckets to deploy to developing nations. But they've already got a plan:

Using a "buy one-give one" model, the sOccket team hopes to sell the ball in Western markets, as a high-end tech gadget, then use the profits to distribute the balls at little or no cost in poor countries through development organizations like Whizz Kids United.

It seems like a fine idea, if development issues can be overcome-they may be difficult to mass produce. This will definitely be an idea to watch.

Posted by Clay Kohut at 12:00 AM - Link to this entry  |  Share this entry  |  Print