sOccket, a project developed by four female students as a class assignment at Harvard, is a unique, eco-friendly soccer ball that generates and stores electricity to power small electronic devices.

30 minutes of playing soccer can power an LED light for three hours.  Or a phone charger.  Wattnow has document similar technologies developed for emerging countries such as the NOKERO and luminAID lightbulbs, as efficient, cost-effective, and safer alternatives to kerosene lamps.

sOccket is different from these other technologies since the power generated is not from solar energy, but from kinetic energy.

The sOccket ball generates electricity through a gyroscopic design.  This energy is then stored in a capacitor or a battery, which can then be used at a later time to power electric devices like LED lamps.

Though the sOccket is not a regulation ball, the extra functionality of the sOccket adds only 140grams as compared to a normal soccer ball.  Moreover, the sOccket is eco-friendly, made with 95% recycled materials, and highly durable, lasting 3+ years.

sOcckets are currently distributed through sponsors - both corporate and philanthropic.  As for individuals, you can "Give-one" through their online store and sOccket will soon be offering a "Buy One, Give One" option so you too can benefit from this awesome generator-soccer ball while also providing a resource-poor family with access to soccer-generated clean energy.

sOccket is funded primarily through private investors via its parent company, Uncharted Play.  In the past, the project has also received grants from the Clinton Global Initiative University and the Walmart Foundation, and most recently, sOccket was named as one of McKinsey's Social Innovation Contest winners.

As Bill Clinton explains sOccket,

"An idea for a clean energy - that I think it's fair to say, hardly anybody else on the planet had ever thought of.  It's quite extraordinary really.  Kick a ball, turn on a light".

via Millie via Co.Exist