It’s that magical time that comes but every four years, when a feeling of national pride and love of the game sweeps across the globe...
The diehard fans are steam-cleaning jerseys, checking out rosters and seeing who is playing with injuries…
The less intense but still spirited followers are making plans to be in front of a television this weekend as the first rounds of games kick off in South Africa.
No matter where you’re from, which colors you’ll be wearing, or what soccer means to you, the World Cup is upon us. And it’s an event that has as much cultural significance as it does athletic prowess.
And now, the World Cup will be the stage for the debut of latest in green energy generation via the key component of the game: the ball.
I wrote an article in January that aimed to spread the word about a new invention by four Harvard University students: sOccket, a soccer ball with the ability to store energy for later use, to light LED lamps or charge batteries.
The ball is “an ingeniously simple portable generator,” conceived during a fall 2008 engineering class at Harvard by Jessica Lin, Jessica Matthews, Julia Silverman, and Hemali Thakkar.
sOccket was born because the team identified an energy problem that many developing nations face: kerosene burning is an inefficient — as well as health-threatening and pollution-heavy — energy source.
All four sOccket creators have previous personal and work experience in developing nations and have seen firsthand the need for improved energy sources.
Lin explains, “Two weeks before the end of the class, we refocused on the positive energy we had all witnessed in Africa, found on fields and playgrounds everywhere after school — the infectious energy of children playing soccer.”
And starting today with the opening games, Silverman will represent the sOccket team in South Africa for the World Cup, where the sOccket 2.0 is being debuted.
This latest version of the invention was manufactured by Cape Town-based Dot Dot Dot Ex Why Zed and has improved play-ability and a higher energy conversion ratio.
The first version of sOccket allowed for three hours’ worth of energy to power an LED light from 15 minutes of ball play; sOccket 2.0 allows for three hours of energy yielded from less than 10 minutes of footy. And the use of a DC jack — an upgrade in Dot Dot Dot Ex Why Zed's model — allowed for powering appliances beyond just a small LED light.
During the games, Silverman will be attending press conferences and FIFA junkets. She will also have the opportunity to continue the ongoing discussion of sOccket utilizing a “buy one, give one” marketing model. This would allow Western countries to fund the cost of sOccket distribution in other developing countries, where it is most needed and would have the greatest impact.
Currently, soccer is the de facto sport in 93 countries. A survey in 2001 by FIFA 2001 showed more than 240 million people play the sport of football in over 200 countries across almost every part of the globe.
Soccer currently boasts 208 member nations and thus is easily the world's richest sport. It also has the largest contingent of dedicated fans, players, and professional leagues in the world's largest economy, Europe.
The FIFA World Cup is the largest and most lucrative sporting event in the world.
"Soccer is something you will find in every African country… People play for hours a day, so we thought, ‘Why not try to get a little more out of that energy?' and that's where the idea ultimately came from," said Lin.
The cofounders hope sOccket will one day be a tool used around the globe to improve health and solve energy inefficiencies…
The sport’s popularity and worldwide fan support should certainly help their mission.
You can read more about sOccket and its debut in South Africa this week here.
Wherever you are and whoever your team, enjoy the Cup!
Brigid
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