In the poorest parts of the world, especially in rural villages and outlying city slums, people are confined to their homes by darkness at night. The only light they have usually comes from a smoky fire or an air-polluting kerosene lantern. But an entrepreneur from Houston, Texas is trying to change that by distributing flashlights powered by energy from the sun in developing nations. Greg Flakus has more in this report from Houston.
The flashlight venture began several years ago in Africa where former U.S. diplomat Mark Bent was working for an oil company. He saw that people in many poor rural villages were trapped by the darkness of night, unable to read, to work or to venture out too far from their homes, unsure of who or what might be out there.
"The social interaction stops in Africa when the sun goes down," said Mark Bent. "You don't walk around, you do not study, you stay home."
Mark Bent's solution is a flashlight that has a solar panel on one side of its shaft to capture energy from the sun.
"This is a photovoltaic panel, a solar panel, it is a poly-silicone panel, and it produces electricity when hit by sunlight," he said. "The electricity is then stored inside the light in three double A batteries, rechargeable batteries, then at night that energy, which has been stored, is released to the light-emitting diodes and they provide lighting."
Light- emitting diodes, sometimes called L.E.D.s, provide sufficient light to read or find a trail in the dark, but they do not produce much heat nor do they produce eye-irritating glare. As recently as a few years ago L.E.D.'s would have been too expensive for such a device, but innovations and production efficiencies have now made them affordable.
Mark Bent says one of the big benefits of using this kind of flashlight is the reduction in use of wood fires and kerosene lanterns, which produce noxious fumes and greenhouse gases.
"One kerosene lantern puts out 100 kilograms of carbon gas, annually," said Bent. "Okay, that is not that much, but when you consider that one third of the planet, two billion people, rely on kerosene for their lighting, illumination needs at night, that is an amazing amount of carbon."
With financial backing from Exxon Mobil and a few other corporate donors, Bent has introduced his flashlight all over Africa and in other parts of the world as well. He is also encouraging Americans to buy them through a special plan that also benefits other nations.
"I realized I could sell this same light in the United States, which will allow people in the United States to have a more sustainable and environmentally friendly flashlight," he said. "So I worked out a program called BOGO, buy one, give one. An American can buy my light for 25 dollars. I will ship it to their home from my warehouse here in Houston and with that same amount of money, no more, I will deliver a second light to the developing world."
Bent's company, Sunnight Solar, is now looking at other applications for solar energy in poor areas of the world. One device would use solar panels to power a water purification system that uses ultraviolet light to kill organisms; another would use natural insecticides like chemical from chrysanthemum flowers to combat malaria-causing mosquitoes.
"All these things are very low energy, have very low energy requirements, and are all doable, but no one has really looked at it in that way before," said Mark Bent.
Mark Bent is full of ideas, but his main focus for the moment is helping poor people everywhere escape the darkness of night, using the power of the sun.
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在世界上一些最贫穷的地区，尤其是在乡村和市郊的贫民区，一般人到了夜晚天黑的时候只好留在家里，无法外出。他们通常只有靠着冒烟的柴火或者污染空气的柴油灯才能得到一点光亮。美国德克萨斯州休斯顿的一位创业者正在设法把一种使用太阳能电池的手电筒提供给发展中国家，帮助他们解决照明的问题。
美国前外交官班特几年前开始在非洲研究手电筒的使用，他目前在一家石油公司任职。他发现在很多贫穷的乡村，人们到了夜晚就被黑暗所困，不能阅读、不能工作、也不能外出到离家太远的地方，因为不知道会碰到什么人或者会发生什么事。班特说：“在非洲，太阳下山之后，社交活动也就停止了。”
非洲的市场上也有手电筒出售，但是售价很高并且对环境有害的电池也不耐用，所以班特就用自己的时间和资金来研发一种太阳能手电筒。班特说：“这里所使用的是一种光电板，也就是太阳能板或者‘聚硅氧烷富勒烯’板。太阳能板在阳光照射下会产生电力，然后把电力储存在3个AA(5号)充电电池内。到了夜晚储存在电池内的能源输入二极管，发出光亮。”
充电电池的有效期是750到1000个夜晚，看使用的多少而定。这种手电筒的一个主要的好处是可以让人们少用柴油灯，减少对空气的污染。班特说：“一盏柴油灯每年会产生100公斤的碳气，这听起来好像没有多少，但是全世界有三分之一的人口、也就是20亿人，夜晚都要靠柴油灯来照明，这样加起来的碳排放就很可观了。”
在艾克森美孚和其他几家公司的资助下，班特向全非洲以及世界上若干其他地区推广介绍他的手电筒。他也鼓励美国人经由一个特殊的计划来购买他的电筒，使其他国家受惠。班特说：“我拟定了一个买一送一的计划，如果美国人花费25美元来买一支手电筒，我可以从休斯顿的仓库把手电筒送到他的家里，同时免费把另外一支手电筒送往发展中国家。”
班特目前正努力研究如何在一些贫穷地区对太阳能做其它的利用，其中一项设计是利用太阳能板来推动水的净化系统。另外一个项目是利用天然的杀虫剂来消灭传染疟疾的蚊虫。班特说：“所有这些设计只需要很低的能量，而且都是可以运用的，但是以前并没有人实际加以研究。”
班特的想法很多，但是在目前，他的主要目标是利用太阳能来帮助世界各地的贫穷居民不再为夜晚的黑暗所苦。
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