Foundation brings light at night to rural poor
Of more than 6 billion people on the planet, 2 billion people don't have electricity in their homes. That's one in three people on Earth who use candles, kerosene lanterns or dry cell batteries. These alternatives can be pricey and tough on the health of people and the environment. Light Up The World Foundation tries to help.
Here’s more from Stuart Hart, author of Capitalism at the Crossroads.
Hart spoke with Earth & Sky about businesses in the developing world, and he mentioned one group trying to bring light at night to some of the billions on Earth now using only candles, kerosene lamps or dry cell batteries.
Stuart Hart: With LEDs – light–emitting diodes that are 90–95% more energy efficient than light bulbs . When you combine it with solar, you can dramatically reduce the size of the solar panel that you need in order to generate the electricity to create light. So you combine that with some wiring, some switches and controls and a little battery, you can essentially go to market with a rural lighting system.
Light Up the World Foundation, based in Canada, has helped bring these lighting technologies to more than 4,000 homes in Latin America and Asia. The lighting systems cost about $75, which is a lot for a poor family. But with a loan, they can pay off a system in two or three years.
And when the systems are paid for, the owners have light at night that’s essentially free. Plus, said Hart, these technologies might end up in the developed world.
Stuart Hart: _You might well end up with something that could – over time, if it’s good enough – end up displacing the way that we currently do things now.
Hart’s book is Capitalism at the Crossroads.
Read Earth & Sky’s interview with Stuart Hart.
