Submission + - In Africa, Lighting up the Darkness with LEDs
Peace Corps Online writes: "In a non-electrified society, life is defined by the sun and little is accomplished once it sets around 6 pm. Only 19 percent of rural areas in Ghana have electricity. The rest use foul-smelling kerosene lamps to light their huts, which pollute, provide little light and are major fire hazards. But now Philips has partnered with KITE, a not-for-profit Ghanaian organization, to bring artificial light to villages that have no electricity. The new Philips products include a portable lantern which provides bright white light where it is needed, the Dynamo Multi LED self-powered (wind-up) flashlight that provides 17 minutes of light from two minutes hand winding, and the "My Reading Light", which is a solar-powered reading light with built-in rechargeable battery. "People can now do things in the evening," says Harriette Amissah-Arthur, KITE's director. "If you could only see the joy these products bring the villagers. You look at their faces; you have to see it to believe it.""
