Pico Power Nepal Light Project

Content Expert
Dr. Dave Irvine-Halliday, Ph.D. P.Eng.
Faculty of Engineering - University of Calgary

Activities and Challenges
The Nepal Light Project, developed by Dr. Dave Irvine-Halliday, an electrical engineer with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Calgary, will be conducted through a series of challenges.

There are several activities, related to light and electricity which build up to these challenges but teachers can choose to do the activities without the challenges or the challenges without the activities.

In Phase 1, the challenge for Division I (K-3) is to Make a Compass.

Nepal Light Project Challenges for Divisions II to IV will begin in Phases 2 and 3.

Overview
The Nepal Light Project began in 1997 when Dr. Dave Irvine-Halliday, an electrical engineer with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Calgary, visited Nepal. Dr. Irvine-Halliday decided he would like to help the Nepalese people by designing a lighting system for the rural population. Currently, most rural homes in Nepal are illuminated by open fires, candles, kerosene wick lamps, or high-pressure camping lanterns. All of these light sources produce potentially dangerous waste products that reduce the quality of air in the home.

The overall objective of the Pico Power Nepal Light Project is to design a lighting and electrical generating system that will generate sufficient electrical power to light an entire kitchen table without the pollution and fire dangers associated with the use of kerosene lamps.

Goals
The goals of the Pico Power Nepal Light Project include:

• construct a simple, safe, and healthy lighting system
• produce an affordable and rugged home-lighting system that could be reproduced in Nepal
• create a lighting system that will provide enough light for children, particularly female, to read at night (light an area the size of a kitchen table using 1 Watt of electrical power)
• produce simple, affordable and reusable technological devices to generate and store electrical energy
• decrease the pollution problems associated with the disposal of non-rechargeable batteries