This is a pretty neat innovation coming out of Japan. Lack of electricity in disasters can make the situation worse than it already is. Green House Co. Ltd. has created a solution to that problem with a lantern, which generates electricity using nothing more than carbon, magnesium rods and salt water!
In the ‘GH-LED10WBW’, 350ml of water, containing 16 grams of salt, is used as an electrolyte between a magnesium rod and carbon rod. The light produced is meant to give off a light of 55 lumens (a standard 60-watt bulb will give off 800 lumens, a 40-watt will give off 450 lumens, according to National Geographic) and one bag of water will give 8 hours of continuous electricity.
The magnesium rods would also need to be replaced, but will last for 120 hours of power. The rod is sold separately.
What’s really cool though is that the light also has a USB port allowing you to power things that charge via USB. So you can still rock to the beat of your iPod, even if the lights are out! But, more seriously, emergency beacons and GPS devices could be powered using it, which would be quite useful in disaster situations.
As of yet, the manufacturer hasn’t suggested a retail price but it is due to be released mid-September 2012, so we should know soon!
It’s a pretty useful innovation, and something I definitely wouldn’t mind having in the attic should disaster strike – especially if I lived in an earthquake prone region! And who knows, if the technology could be made cheaply, we might end up having batteries that can be recharged by simply refilling them with salt water!