As part of the ‘Free Energy Friday’ series of posts, here is a fantastic concept brought to you by Marieke Staps; The Soil Lamp.

The idea is simple, the lamp has copper strips coming out of the bottom of it and it uses the soil as an electrolyte to power the LED light. All that is required in order to light your humble dwellings is the occasional sprinkling of water on the mud to keep the light shining bright.

When technologies such as this are brought to the public arena, one cannot help but think of the implications of introducing such a product into third world countries, where electricity is practically non-existent. The Soil Lamp reminds me of devices such as the Baghdad battery, potato batteries, and even electricity from trees.

The question one has to ask is… Why aren’t these concepts being aggressively researched to test for the viability of mass production and helping to promote and pave a new way forward for alternative energy technologies?

Could the Soil Lamp be the first sign for a way of creating a sustainable ‘clean’ source of electricity!

What are your thoughts?

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7 Responses to “Free Energy Friday – The Soil Lamp which Runs on Mud”

1. harish Says:
   December 6th, 2008 at 6:52 am

   Wonderful !!! The concept is great and considering it uses LEDs for bulbs, very workable.
   I belong to third world and you are right, many households esp in remote areas struggle for electricity and certainly this is one of the many solutions that can be used.

   As for the question of why not enough is being done, the one and only possible answer is – DIRTY POLITICS ( is “dirty” prefix unnecessary? )

2. MsOd Says:
   December 7th, 2008 at 3:46 am

   This is great! I agree with harish on the dirty politics, and want to also all greed… all oftentimes squashing research, ingenuity and innovation.

   MsOd’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday #5: Pass It On

3. Linda Says:
   December 7th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

   What a great item. How much is it? It is an item that the world could use.

4. harish Says:
   December 7th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

   Hi Ms Od,

   Thanks.
   I got the opportunity to visit your blog through this and feel overwhelmed by “the message”. I have already commented on that post.

   Greed. Yes, greed, though good if in moderate dose, very dangerous otherwise and this is why great technology and ultimate human independence is always suppressed.

   You seem to be either a Tibetan or someone caring for them. I like both.

   harish’s last blog post..Nifty Future Analysis Based on Hourly Chart

5. SolReka Says:
   December 8th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

   @Linda
   No price unfortunately. Like most great ideas, it will remain at concept stage, and then the rights bought out by the oil oligarchs.

   Perhaps one day, such a technology will become wide spread.

   @Harish
   As always, your comments are much appreciated. Cheers bud. Dirty politics ROFL Good one. Why didn’t I think of that.

6. Phyl Says:
   December 10th, 2008 at 12:23 am

   This is absolutely stunning stuff.

   Of course you know that all these lamps would be immediately vandalized for the copper.

   But what amazing technology! This should be everywhere.

   Phyl’s last blog post..The festive season begins – hurrah!

7. SolReka Says:
   December 10th, 2008 at 1:26 am

   Bloody pikeys, they’ll nick anything these days

   I agree, this technology should be everywhere. Just makes you realize how corrupt the world really is, when technologies such as this aren’t exploited and mass produced.

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