The Philippine Senate is where bills are discussed and where laws are made. And this is also where you will find a solar Christmas lantern which has been made by the hands of Filipinos.

Amalie Obusan is the campaigner of Greenpeace Climate and Energy and she says, with regards to the solar lantern that they had put in the senate, “Energy revolution is a transformation of the global economy into one that is low carbon and sustainable in its production and consumption.”

This solar lantern measures six feet. It is made of rattan and Obusan says that this lantern is going to help the senators be reminded “that renewable energy is the clear solution to our problems with climate change and not nuclear or fossil fuels which is more catastrophic.” She also did add, “The main focus of this activity is to highlight how energy efficiency could work in the country and how renewable energy can be its backbone in the Philippines.”

Source: GMANews.TV

There has been an interest on converting kerosene or oil based lanterns to a solar lantern.   Such a project would be very very beneficial specially for those people who live in places not yet accessible by the grid, or by people who live in poor countries and neighborhoods who don’t have money to pay for electricity.

It is possible to adapt oil (kerosene) lamps to contain rechargeable batteries and LEDs.    The adaption below is shown without the glass globe (it reduces the amount of light) but it can probably be fitted if desired.  Others might want to line the glass globe with a thin translucent paper (such as tracing paper) to act as a light diffuser just like those old chinese  oil lanterns.
This main adaption is with the wick assembly which is replaced by a terminal strip (or two) containing both LEDs and connecting leads.  The LEDs can be directed in any direction by bending their wires.

Read more

I just finished doing my DIY solar lantern project. I’ve always wanted to make one but I didn’t have the time to make one.

After the Earth Day, I decided to make time for this mini project of mine.

I’ve made a detailed documentation of this project including theory of operation, how it works, how to compute for the resistor value, and all these technical stuff.

Here’s a link to the detailed guide on how I did it.

DIY Solar Lantern part 1/3

DIY Solar Lantern part 2/3

DIY Solar Lantern part 3/3

Here are some of the pics.

[Image Source: Noel Bautista ]