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Blog posts tagged with '100th object'

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

New low-cost solar lantern addresses "top priority" of children's education

Last year's winner of the Ashden 2010 Gold Award, d.light design, has one of its solar lanterns on display at the British Museum as the 100th Object in The History of the World in a 100 Objects.

Today d.light launches its latest low-cost solar lantern, the d.light S1, which it describes as a "solar study lamp for young people withe big dreams".

The d.light S1 provides four hours of bright light from one full day of solar energy and has an adjustable handle that allows the product to turn easily in the direction of the sun.

Sam Goldman, d.light's Chief Customer Officer, says the product "addresses a  top priority for our customer: their children's education".

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Posted by Carla Jones at Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Tags: 100th object, Ashden Awards, D.light, education
Friday, 31 December 2010

Best Ashden Moments 2010: Sarah picks the moment the 100th Object was unveiled

For the last in our end-of-year series, where members of the Ashden team choose favourite moments from the year, Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder-director of the awards, picks the moment the solar-powered lantern was chosen as the 100th Object.

It was great news that the solar lantern was chosen as the 100th object. It's a small object, but it represents a solution to two of our biggest global problems: climate change and poverty.

How we tackle climate change and how we reduce poverty are vital questions to address if we are going to survive the 21st Century. Clean renewable energy has to be the energy of the future and affordable, accessible energy is crucial for ending poverty. The 100th object in the series meets both those challenges.

A History of the World was an extraordinary radio series and we were very lucky and honoured that Neil MacGregor came to speak at this year's awards. There have been many great moments for us this year, but what was so special about this moment, the moment the solar-powered lamp was chosen as the 100th Object, is that it introduced to a much much wider audience the sense of potential and empowerment that local sustainable energy brings. That lies at the heart of what the Ashden team is trying to achieve. For all of us at the awards, the 100th Object was a terrific boost.

Nick Stern says solar power can free communities from corrupt practices,
In one hour from the sun, we get enough energy for a year,

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Posted by Robert Butler at Friday, 31 December 2010
Tags: 100th object, bbc
Monday, 8 November 2010

Antiques Roadshow ends with thoroughly modern 100th Object

Last night’s episode of the Antiques Roadshow, which took place at the British Museum, ended by highlighting Radio Four’s 100th object.

The solar lamp and charger has received good media coverage following the announcement last month. But this was special: Sunday night on BBC2, on a programme that regularly draws 5.5 million viewers.

The show’s panel of experts pitched in with their own ideas for a 100th item that represented the modern age. There was the SatNav: “nothing has done more for domestic harmony”. There was the pair of rubber clogs: “They’ve changed my life at the seaside". And there was the microchip: “I’ve never seen it, I don’t know how it works, but it has changed everybody’s lives.”

But last night's Antiques Roadshow finished with the 100th Object - the solar-powered lamp, which is housed within the British Museum. The Museum's director, Neil MacGregor, said, "In fact, it's sunshine, captured, harvested and stored, to be taken out and used wherever and whenever we need it."

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Posted by Ashden Awards at Monday, 8 November 2010
Tags: 100th object, bbc, solar
Friday, 5 November 2010

Neil MacGregor on what the 100 Objects teach us

In an interview in today's Independent, the British Museum's director, Neil MacGregor, explains the lesson that can be learnt from a series about 100 Objects, that extends from a two million-year-old stone tool found in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania to the solar-powered lamp from Shenzhen (pic).

"Once you have seen that different societies can organise themselves in different ways, the inevitable conclusion is that social order is contingent and therefore changeable. That totally transforms the role of the citizen, doesn't it? The citizen can change his polity, and then the consequences for society are enormous."

Nick Stern says solar power can free communities from corrupt practices,
In one hour from the sun, we get enough energy for a year,
100th Object introduces us to “the noise of the day",
100th object reminds us of extraordinary amount the semiconductor transistor has done for 21st century life

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Posted by Ashden Awards at Friday, 5 November 2010
Tags: 100th object, solar
Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Most popular 10 blogs in October

We've just checked the stats to see which blog had the most visits last month. The winner was the solar-powered lamp, with Juliet's SuperHome (a late entry) attracting a lot of interest in the last few days. Jo's visit to the biogas plant at SKG - published in March - is still in the Top 10.

1. Will solar-powered lamp be 100th Object of the World? (12 October 2010)
2. How to turn a small, cold, dark house into a SuperHome (27 October 2010)
3. Didcot pilots an energy source close to home (5 October 2010)
4. What the twitterverse thinks of the 100th Object (14 October 2010)
5. When electricity boards went on the offensive (27 October 2010)
6. Mike set to save £500-£600 on gas and electricity (29 October 2010)
7. Solar-powered lamp revealed as 100th Object (14 October 2010)
8. Brazil's ex-energy minister could become 'most powerful woman in the world' (7 October 2010)
9. Jo sees installation of biogas plant at SKG (10 March 2010)

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Posted by Ashden Awards at Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Tags: 100th object, Ashden Awards, biogas, blog, global solar report card, superhomes
Sunday, 24 October 2010

100 objects in 5 minutes with solar lantern at 4 mins 50 secs

This blog has probably run more posts than any other blog on the 100th object in A History of The World. But then, these 100 objects stretch back from the Olduvai stone chopping tool, made two million years ago, to the solar-powered lantern, made this year, and illustrated by an Ashden Award winner.

For those who missed the series, you can watch the five-minute version here, with the solar lantern coming in seconds before the end.

If you have more than five minutes, you can read our other posts here:

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Posted by Ashden Awards at Sunday, 24 October 2010
Tags: 100th object, solar
Friday, 22 October 2010

Nick Stern says solar power can free communities from corrupt practices

Carla Jones, from the Ashden Awards communications team, writes about this morning's 100th Object

I’ve been aware of the impressive health and economic benefits of off-grid solar lamps. But what struck me this morning from Lord Stern’s comments was the idea that solar energy can bring political empowerment.

As well as being a more practical solution for the world’s rural communities, off-grid and local energy can also free people from the possibility of corruption.

Lord Stern (pictured) told Neil MacGregor:

“One of the great things about solar power is freedom from the grid. In many parts of the world, particularly the developing world, particularly South Asia and Africa, it is extremely unreliable.

Also the energy is unreliable from the point of view of interventions from corrupt people – it’s all too easy to flick a switch and turn off your energy supply and then demand payment to put it back on.

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Posted by Ashden Awards at Friday, 22 October 2010
Tags: 100th object, neil macgregor, nicholas stern, solar
Friday, 22 October 2010

In one hour from the sun, we get enough energy for a year

Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Review, explains to Neil MacGregor the potential of the solar panel and why we are on the verge of a new industrial revolution.

"One of the great advantages of solar energy is that as far as we humans are concerned, it's almost limitless. Why? Because in one hour we get as much energy from the sun on the earth as we use right across the planet in one year. And further, the cost of accessing that limitless supply of energy is really crashing down. Just in the last couple of years, the cost of a solar panel has fallen by about half."
Posted by Ashden Awards at Friday, 22 October 2010
Tags: 100th object, neil macgregor, nicholas stern, solar
Friday, 22 October 2010

100th Object introduces us to "the noise of a new day"

Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder director of the Ashden Awards, says this morning's broadcast about the 100th Object brought a fresh perspective to how we think about solar energy.

Today's programme rightly stressed the importance and benefits that solar energy can bring to the 1.6 million people without access to electricity, in terms of improvements to health, education and livelihoods. It also made clear the freedom and independence that this technology brings.

But what the programme brought us, most of all, was a really fresh and exciting perspective. It was very powerful to hear Nicholas Stern say that we are at the start of a new industrial revolution. It was also fascinating to hear how myths from around the world show how humans have always dreamt of storing energy from the sun.

And it was very moving, after having been reminded how much solar energy could achieve today, to hear the recording of the sun, and to have it described as "the noise of a new day". Let's hope that it is.

Posted by Ashden Awards at Friday, 22 October 2010
Tags: 100th object, solar
Friday, 22 October 2010

100th object reminds us of extraordinary amount the semiconductor transistor has done for 21st century life

Anne Wheldon, Senior Advisor for the Ashden Awards, writes

Neil MacGregor couldn’t have made a better choice for his 100th object than the solar panel with lamp and charger, not just for what it does, but for what it stands for.

The solar cell is the younger sister of the semiconductor transistor, the key invention that started the semiconductor industry. For me, the solar panel stands for all the science and technology which has gone into the semiconductor industry, providing the computers, mobile phones, communications and entertainment that are 21st century life.

Already solar cells are powering crucial parts of the semiconductor world, from communications satellites to lamps and chargers. And now there are real signs that solar will move from niche to bulk power supply.

pic: John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 for their invention of the semiconductor transistor.

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Posted by Ashden Awards at Friday, 22 October 2010
Tags: 100th object, solar
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