Wind Powered Bamboo “Flow” Lights Give Hope to Third World Countries

trish smith

Two designers create affordable and sustainable lighting to help third world countries thrive.

Due to poor economic conditions, many third world countries in Africa and South America can’t afford to light their streets, coastlines or neighborhoods. This makes it hard for businesses to thrive and for people to feel safe. Well, it looks like the team at Ingendesign (which consists of Daniel Lorincz and Alberto Vasquez) has come up with a solution. It’s called the “Flow,” and it’s a wind-powered lighting system made from sustainable bamboo.

According to Ingendesign, bamboo is one of the cheapest and most abundant resources in the third world, and that’s why it made sense for the team to use it as the light’s main material.  It’s also locally harvested in countries like Colombia (a place where the team is testing the lights), so there’s no need make a huge carbon footprint by shipping in materials.



Here’s some more information about the Flow:

• It’s made from bamboo blades that have been cut in half and angled at the end (to increase wind speed).
• It’s also made with electronic components like LEDs, wires and dynamo, which can all be recycled.
• Depending on the force of the wind, the lighting will either be continuous, or waver like a dancing light show!

Here are a few more pictures of the design:






Photos from ingendesign

Sadly, these lights are not for sale yet, but the Ingendesign duo plans to start the manufacturing of them this summer. So, what do you think? Good green idea, or not?

Source: Greenopolis.com