Green Power in Africa Gets a Big Kick

The sOccket is a power source in the form of a soccer ball - a lifesaver for rural African communities.

The one thing that makes me realize I’ve arrived in Africa, or most developing countries for that matter, is the unique smell in the air.  After seventeen hours, a sore back and clothes that are damp with sweat, walking out of the airport into the not-so-fresh air is always so comforting to me. I often get that faint, but recognizable smell of kerosene mixed with rain clouds and burning trash. That encounter with the environment paints a massive smile on my face because I know I have arrived in a magical place.  For others, not so much.

In reality, that burning kerosene smell, the result of lamps and other appliances that run on the gas, is causing issues for developing countries. The 2006 World Bank Millennium Goals reported that more that one billion people around the world rely on kerosene lamps to light their homes and businesses when the sun goes down.  Not only is kerosene expensive, but its flames are dangerous and the smoke poses serious health risks. When burned inside, it creates an effect similar to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

There is a huge need for cheap, clean, simple, off-the grid energy solutions that are available for immediate use.

Get this: A group of Harvard students have figured out how to use the world's most popular piece of sports equipment, the magnificent, round, soccer ball to ensure that people in developing nations will no longer need to walk an hour simply to charge their cell phones. The power will quite literally be in their hands — well, actually their feet.

The sOccket is a power source in the form of a soccer ball. When the ball is kicked or dribbled it captures the energy and stores it for later use.  It generates enough energy to power an LED light or charge a small electronic device.  

I had the opportunity to catch up with one of the founders of the sOccket, Jessica Lin, to get her take on this revolutionary way to derive clean energy from a healthy activity.  Jessica was struggling to complete a project for her engineering class and was tossing around old photos two nights before her deadline, when she came across a photo a group of guys in Zanzibar playing soccer on the beach.  That’s when the light bulb flickered in her head and the sOccket was kicked into action.  Goaaaaaaal!

The most rewarding moment has been when her team traveled to Durban, South Africa to test the prototype and got to see the reaction on the kids faces. Eyes burst open, jaws dropped and giggles mixed with the smoke filled air. Jessica was pumped up because, she says, “you could see in their minds they were all thinking and making the connection between soccer and energy. To be able to open their eyes to think about energy in a different way was inspiring.” One boy even showed up the next morning with detailed drawings of a new ball that had solar panels and other inventive ways to make this more than just a ball.

They are in the process of redesigning the sOccket with a professional industrial design firm in Boston and looking for ways to get some funding so they can roll this out large scale. The sOccket team hopes to produce the ball at a competitive price to be sold in the United States and maybe even position it as a high-end luxury item. An additional feel-good twist is that for every ball sold in the US, one can be distributed for free to a child in a developing country. So, a 10-year-old soccer fan can buy a sOccket, have the time of their life and know they are helping kids their own age in lands far away. Kids helping kids.

Although it's not going to fix the energy crisis in one shot, it’s a huge kick in the right direction. “Ultimately," Jessica says, "if the sOccket can bring a lot of fun, happiness and some light and energy to a lot of people, that is something we are really proud of and we have accomplished a lot. And that’s all we can ask for.”

Final score: sOccket 1 – Energy Crisis 0

Photos courtesy Sockett