While trekking in Nepal in 1997, Dave Irvine-Halliday was struck by the plight of rural villagers having to rely on smelly, dim and dangerous kerosene lanterns to light their homes. Hoping to make a difference, Dr. Irvine-Halliday, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Calgary in Canada, founded the Light Up The World Foundation. The non-profit organization has since helped to distribute low-power, white light-emitting diodes (LEDs), at low cost or free, to thousands of people around the globe. LEDs are an ideal off-the-grid light source because they need such little power. And compared with kerosene lanterns, LEDs can deliver up to 100 times more useful light to a task, and are extremely long-lasting. This Economist magazine article explains what makes LEDs so innovative.
