How the Gravity Light is set to shine in the developing world

When Jim Reeves was approached in 2009 to design a solar lantern for the developing world, he soon clocked that the concept was flawed.

“We quickly realised that the batteries and the solar panel contributed a fixed 60-70 per cent of the cost of micro-solar products,” he told The Engineer. “So we started to question the premise of using batteries to store power.”

Not only was the battery the first thing to fail, it was also the most expensive component, and not easily replaceable. On top of this, at the end of its life it would generally end up in landfill, adding to an already substantial environmental footprint. Reeves and design partner Martin Riddiford knew that to hit the solar brief they would need to use lower-quality components, compromising the integrity of the product. Instead, they explored other ways to provide off-grid light that could replace the expensive and dangerous kerosene lamps still used by billions of people around the world. As with Newton’s apple, a simple solution eventually fell to them.