The document describes the development of the SociaLite lighting system, an affordable and sustainable lighting solution designed for people living on less than $1.25 per day. It details the various prototypes created through a collaborative design process with communities in Ghana and how the final product was implemented with local manufacturing and training programs to ensure community adoption. The SociaLite system is intended to provide light for decades through shared resources and components designed for prolonged life and repair using indigenous materials.

1. SociaLite - Engineering for the Middle of Nowhere
Toby Cumberbatch, David Berger, Michael Gazes, Anurag Panda & Gaurav Namit
SEA 2M3
The Center for Sustainable Engineering, ARCHITECTURE and ART -
Materials, Manufacturing and Minimalism
1.01
The Cooper Union, New York, USA 1

2. Change?
“Whatever we do is likely to lead to
death on a scale that makes all
previous wars, famines and
disasters small. To continue
business as usual will probably kill
most of us during the century.”
Sir James Lovelock
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 366 1882 (2008)
2

3. Think
different!
3
Challenge to First Year
Engineering Class -
2006
Design a lighting system for
the poorest people on the
planet that can be used -
as a flashlight, for general
lighting, for reading
for two days without a
recharge
that costs less than $10
that is a “must have”

4. Who Has Light?
4

5. Who Has Light?
4

6. !!!!!"#"$#%&'((#")"&*+"(',*&"-./01+"$.0"&*.-+"('2'%,"'%"+3&0+4+"5.2+0&6""!!!!
5

7. Over 1500 million people do
not have access to a clean,
affordable source of light
Imagine a self-sustaining
light source truly designed
for local assembly and repair
6

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9. Learning from the Past
“ ... because I believe too many
failures in the ‘development
business’ have been ignored or
covered up, condemning poor
people to suffer the re-invention of
too many wheels that never
worked in the first place”
Ian Smillie
Mastering the Machine Revisited (2000)
8

10. First Steps
EID101 (Fall 2006) Prototypes
9

11. Summer 2007 - Community Meeting
Nambeg - Northern Ghana
10

12. Community Voting to Work with The Cooper Union
11

13. Prototype Lighting System #1
12

14. !"#$%&$'(
!"#$%&'(%)%"#*+
13

15. January 2008
Significant Improvements!
14

16. Prototype System II (Left) Prototype System I (Right)
15

17. Prototype Lighting System #2
16

18. Prototype Lighting System #2
16

19. Field Test Results & Local Designs
June 2008
17

20. Prototype Lighting System #3
Teaching the Community - Self-Assembled Lighting Systems
Indigenous Materials for Lantern Housings
18

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20

23. SociaLite Engineering for the Middle of Nowhere
Prolonged Component Life
Shared Resources
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Robust Engineering
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25. Teaching the Teachers
National University of Rwanda - February 2009
23

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28. 26
Lantern - 2010
LED & Charging Circuitry
AVR Microprocessor
Battery Life - 4 Years
Full Power > 40 Hrs
Low Power > 200 Hrs
Housing - Wa Polytechnic

29. 27
SociaLite Lighting
System
Designed for those earning
< 25c/day
Designed for local
manufacture, installation
and maintenance
Source locally available
materials where possible

30. SociaLite
Community Sales
28

31. SociaLite
Community Instruction
29

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SociaLite
Why?
35

38. !"#$"%%&$"#'(")'*%+$#"',%"-%&+'!+-(./$+0%)
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39. SociaLite 28 Countries: 3 Continents
37

40. Wa Polytechnic, Ghana
University of Texas, Austin
Milliman, New York
National University of
Rwanda
The Burundi Lighting
Company
Ministry of Energy
Many other organizations
Current Partners
38

41. Hard
Working against the tide
Unintended Consequences
Community Development not
Entrepreneurship
Unlimited Opportunity
What Have We Learnt? Perseverance
39

42. 40
Acknowledgements
Cooper Union Students
Jennifer Keller Jackson &
the NCIIA (Dan O’Neill)
Elizabeth Lyons, NSF
Blandina Batiir, Wa, Ghana
Felix Akorli, Rwanda
Genice Jacobs
Plus hundreds of others