Gravity Powered LED Light
Are we living in a sci-fi novel? One has to wonder when considering modern designs like the recently-designed gravity powered LED light shown to the right. As this article from the ScienceDaily reports, Virginia Tech student Clay Moulton developed the lamp while an industrial design student.
The lamp, called the Gravia, is an acrylic column standing just over four feet tall, and will light up from top to bottom when activated. To turn on this futuristic lamp, one simply moves weights from the bottom to the top of the column. As the weights slowly fall, they turn a rotor. In turn, the rotor powers ten high-output LED lights, creating a soft light. This cordless and entirely silent lamp could be tomorrow’s hour glass– the owner would know four hours had passed when the weights reached the bottom of the column.
Unfortunately, LED technology has yet to catch up to Moulton’s design. To build the lamp with today’s LEDs would require too much weight– tons, in fact. Additionally, current LED lights are not efficient enough. As the Gravia’s patent is processed, Moulton will have to wait for the LED industry to be ready for his design.
Until then, you can harness the impressive efficiency of LEDs in your own home. DLK’s recent article on home lighting design with LED bulbs includes a great overview of LED technology for the home. While creating your lighting scheme, remember that you’ll need ambient light as well as task lighting. The Hollywood Power Spot Lamp is a good choice for the latter; it provides powerful light, yet requires only 1.2 watts of power.
Photo By Clay Moulton
