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
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.