[ Aahana Solar Lantern Bracelet ] 

 

To be marketed in India, the Aahana Bracelet is worn during the daytime to charge its solar cells, powering its LED to produce light after dark, enabling work productivity and comfort in an off-grid home for hours. 

 

[ Problems Addressed ] 

 

Over 404,700,000 Indians are off-grid (without electricity) in a country experiencing five trillion kilowatt hours of solar power a year; 80,000 villages lack electricity and mostly rely on harmful, expensive kerosene for light. 

 

[ Solution Rationale ] 

 

 

(1) Women Outdoors

On a consistent daily basis in India, millions of women spend one to two hours gathering water, traverse six to eight kilometers seeking firewood, and walk for hours to cities or markets to sell and buy goods. 

 

(2) Permaculture

Bracelets are ubiquitously auspicious and naturally worn across India by girls and women of all ages.

 

(3) Power Hotspot

Eighty-three percent of the year consists of sunny days, equating to five trillion kilowatt hours of solar energy a year (far exceeding India’s annual energy consumption) - and India’s photovoltaic industry ranks sixth worldwide; women of a vast age group may be powerhouses of light energy without any change in their daily schedule or wardrobe. 

 

(4) Manufacturing Cost 

 

LED light saves 12-24 times as much energy as it takes to manufacture it. Due to the money saved from not buying kerosene, LED systems ‘pay back’ within two months. 

 

[ Usage ] 

 

Part of the usual morning routine in a Indian woman's life, regardless of social stature, location, or marital status, is to adorn herself with attractive accessories when she dresses; the Aahana bracelet's implementation will not interfere with what an Indian woman is accustomed to, and may be unobtrusively worn daily to gather solar energy while she goes about. 

 

When the user returns home or when the sky darkens, she may remove the bracelet, elongate its telescoping light diffuser rings, and turn on the LED lighting system embedded within to grant her family light; virtually all studies held on how increased lighting impacts productivity concur that efficacy greatly increases with more light, since users may work into the night, producing more goods for sale and studying better. 

 

[ Continuum Product ]

 

The Aahana bracelet is a continuum product, meaning its lighting helps the users better their life and productivity for a while until they may use the extra profit earned to buy better household lighting systems. It is pitched as a single unit (or however many the user desires to buy and wear) since most families live in close quarters with spare furniture and therefore may easily share a few units of light (one or two rooms hold several generations of familial members.)