Cheap, Printed Solar LEDs To Light Up Off-Grid African Villages

By Stuart Fox in Popular Science, November 3 2009

Even as some of the world moves into a future of unimaginably complex technology, many communities still lack the basic electrical infrastructure needed to power even simply electric devices like light bulbs. Unwilling to wait for the wiring to catch up to the demand, Danish researcher Frederik Krebs has created an LED lamp embedded within a flexible, printable solar panel that could replace the kerosene lamps still used around the developing world.

While sheets of photovoltaics aren't that new, Krebs is the first person to embed LEDs inside those solar panels. Printed out in reams, the combo light/solar panel can be rolled up to mimic a lamp, and could potentially provide light to the 1.5 billion people around the wold currently living without electricity.

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www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/solar-powered-leds-light-grid-african-villages