Rural lighting, minus the kerosene

This post is being written without lights. That’s a decision made because of where I am in western Canada and the time of day this is being written. But electricity isn’t so abundant everywhere in the world.

In pockets of Africa and India, where residents aren’t connected to a power grid, kerosene lamps provide the lighting necessary for daily life. But kerosene lamps aren’t ideal because of the respiratory problems that come with burning paraffin as a fuel and the dim quality of the lighting.

Every day, people are killed or seriously injured by burns from kerosene lights in villages, and that’s what motivated social entrepreneur Sam Goldman, the CEO of California company d-light design to address the issue.

“1.6 billion people, about one in four, don’t have access to electricity,” said Goldman, who worked as a Peace Corps volunteer and saw first-hand what kerosene burns do to children.

His company currently has three products using its LED and solar-power lamps. Nova is a solar and AC-chargeable lamp as is the desk-type version the Comet; the Vega is a fast-charging model that provides one hour of light for every hour of charge -- a unit that would be particularly useful in places with sporadic electricity. Prices range from $12 to $30.

In a bid to reduce its overhead and make its products more affordable, d-light is moving its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen, China. It’s Goldman’s hope that by 2017, families in developing countries will no longer have to use kerosene lamps.

Via: d-light design, Earth2Tech; an interview with Goldman can be seen here