Game Changing Idea? Tiny Solar Pebble to Power Africa

Every so often there comes about a concept design that has potential to make big changes for a community or demographic. It's rare, and even rarer to see those designs come to fruition. However, the Solar Pebble hopes to be just such a design.

It is being touted by several green-minded gadget blogs as a "game changer." Inhabitat even says it has the potential to replace kerosene lamps, which are harsh on the environment and rather dangerous for users.

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However, the Solar Pebble does something more important than that - it actually highlights exactly why so few designs make it to production, and even fewer make it to fame and fortune as a world changing idea. Let's take a closer look at the Solar Pebble, and why it's unlikely to make it.

The Solar Pebble, Pros and Cons

Plus Minus Design came up with the idea for the Solar Pebble. It's shown off on Yanko Design, which states: "The LED Solar Pebble is powered by batteries that are charged from the sun via a small, efficient solar panel. It can also charge mobile phones and other devices. The versatile ratchet handle allows the product to be carried and angled when standing or suspended. On the go? Just strap it onto a backpack for daytime charging."

Pro: Small and Portable

Something that can be easily carried from place to place, or strapped onto packs while out traveling is very handy, especially if it is charging up batteries with sunlight so a cell phone or small mobile device can be charged while in the field. And of course the fact that it's a flashlight is handy - charged up by sunlight during the day, a user could have a couple hours of extra light after dark. It can purportedly provide one hour of LED light for every two hours of charge.

Pro: Cheap to Manufacture

The most expensive part of this product is the solar cell. The more small and efficient, the more expensive. Minimizing the cost is important if it is to be used in rural and poverty stricken areas. Yet the designers took this into account. The Solar Pebble could cost as little as $2.70 to manufacture.

Con: Plastic Breaks

As important as cost of manufacturing - or really, more important - is how durable a product is. Unfortunately, this one is encased in plastic. Plastic breaks and isn't easily fixed. In places like rural Africa, where it's bound to get beat up, it seems like a metal case would be much more durable, and if it breaks, it can be more easily repaired with soldering or welding by the user.

Con: Small Size Means Small Charge

Portability is great. But to produce such an inexpensive product means using solar cells that aren't terribly efficient. And that means that the smaller the cell, the less capable it is of gathering a charge. So if someone wants to use this as both a flashlight and a small gadget charger, they're likely plumb out of luck.

Con: How to Charge Gadgets?

As Engadget points out, "unfortunately there's no confirmation on what exactly it'd charge." Different gadgets require different amounts of power, and differently sized USB ports. The Solar Pebble design doesn't seem to complete that train of thought.

Con: Nothing Special

This doesn't stand out from many other solar powered lamp ideas. And really, it blends right into the background when we look at some of the other more innovative ideas that address the issue of lighting and renewable power for people in developing nations. We love ideas more like the FLAP bag - a bag with a solar cell that unfolds into a lamp. Talk about useful!

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So while we like this idea, and we love the motivation for creating the device, we also think that designers have to do more footwork on figuring out what does and doesn't work in the areas where the designs are supposed to be used. For example, a lot of serious thought and testing went into one extraordinarily simple design, the Q Drum, a water transportation design. Creators took into account the terrain, who would be using it, the lifespan of the device and how long it will last being used several times a day on rough terrain, and so on. It's tough work, and that's why just a tiny handful of products ever prove to be worth their salt, let alone an honest to goodness "game changer."

According to Inhabitat, the Solar Pebble will be released to the masses in June. However, we think it will be more popular among campers and hikers in developed nations, rather than users in rural areas. Yet, with the low price, it could make it to villages after all - as Inhabitat says, "In total the Solar Pebble costs about a tenth of what a family would spend on kerosene for light and is 100% cleaner."