Life for millions in Kenya could change dramatically because of a new solar lantern. Ninety per cent of the households in the country are without electricity. Intermediate Technology Consultants ( itc ), a British non-profit consultancy firm has launched the Glowstar lantern, which is cheap, reliable and eco-friendly. It does not require electricity, expensive batteries or kerosene to run. Rather it uses solar energy and costs around 70 pounds. It has a rechargeable battery, which switches off automatically at night instead of allowing the lantern to completely use all its energy. The Solar panels earlier used by around 150,000 Kenyan households to run lights, televisions and to charge car batteries were abandoned due to exhaustion of batteries resulting from poorly designed charging circuits.
According to Kieron Crawley, the lantern's designer, the uniqueness of the solar lantern lies in its new type of microchip charge regulator. This will ensure its success. itc claims that its microprocessor based charge-control circuit, that is inside the lantern, will monitor and ensure that the battery remains charged. Energy transferred from the solar panel to the battery during the day can also be controlled. According to Crawley, the existing systems are not able do this effectively. As a result, performance gradually drops and within six months they become useless.
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