When power isn't available in an area, one of your first priorities should always be to find light sources that you can sustain for a long time. After all, you're not going to know how long the power is going to be out, so you want to ensure that you can sustain light for as long as you need to in case traditional batteries aren't enough. Here are a few technologies perfect for keeping a source of light when you have no electricity.

Gravity Powered Lights

One recent innovation in this field is a light source that's literally powered by gravity. The way it works is that you put a sandbag on one side of a pulley connected to the light. Gravity slowly pulls the sandbag down, pulling up the counterweight on the other side.

The friction caused by the pulley wire moving causes sparks of electricity that can then power a light. This tech allows for 30 minutes of light using LED lights on the lowest setting. The device was designed with third world countries specifically in mind.

The sandbag portion of the device weighs 20 pounds, so it's hardly ideal to use it all day long, but it's an effective alternative to having to rely on sporadic energy grids or potentially dangerous fuels like kerosene.

Kinetic Powered Batteries for Flashlights

Some flashlights use battery systems that can be charged by simply turning a wheel. There are flashlights that have this built into them, but there are also more general battery chargers you can charge this way as well.

Generally, you can crank the turbine on one of these machines for one minute and get 21 minutes of light through the use of more efficient LED light sources.  Many of these devices can also power other tools such as radio or smartphones.

A device such as this is ideal in a third world country environment where you may not know when electricity from a grid might be coming back, and where it may not exactly be a simple thing to go find more batteries. If you're planning a trip or anticipate needing power in the future, visit a battery store to check out kinetic chargers.

Many other countries don't have general stores within a reasonable distance. This means aid workers, reporters, filmmakers, and anyone else who needs to be in a remote area in a country can rely on free fuel-less light as long as they have one of these gadgets around and keep them in working order.