More than 13 million verified off-grid solar lights have been sold in developing countries, representing a new market now worth USD $300 million each year.
A new report to be released later this month will state just in Africa alone, 35 million rural dwellers have benefited from affordable solar lights.
The global market for solar lighting is huge as more than 1 billion people live without access to basic electricity services. These people mainly rely on dangerous, polluting and expensive kerosene lamps for lighting – often spending a significant proportion of household income on the fossil fuel. More than USD $30 billion is spent on kerosene each year.
These lamps are not only expensive to run – they are deadly. Hundreds of thousands of people are killed each year through fires started by the lamps and the toxic fumes lead to many more deaths cause by respiratory disease. It’s estimated the burning of kerosene lamps leads to the death of 1.5 million people every year.
Simple solar powered lights have a massive positive impact; providing increased security, better health and education outcomes and enabling enhanced productivity.
“The potential to improve lives is phenomenal. Yet we’ve only just begun to address the enormous demand from households for affordable electrical services,” says Koen Peters, Executive Director of the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA).
GOGLA is an independent, not-for-profit association created to promote lighting solutions that benefit society and businesses in developing and emerging markets.
Findings from the report will be discussed at the 4th International Off-Grid Lighting Conference and Exhibition, to be held in Dubai from the 26th to the 29th of October. Professor Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, microfinance pioneer and founder of Grameen Bank and Grameen Shakti is keynote speaker at the event.
2015 is the UNESCO International Year of Light.
“.. the UN has recognized the importance of raising global awareness about how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health,” states the organisation’s International Year of Light web site.
Many solar LED products and projects have been made available in the past few years with developing nations primarily in mind. Some of these we’ve mentioned in the past; including Mandarin Ultra, Repurpose Schoolbags, Panasonic’s 100,000 Solar Lantern Project, LUCI, LuminAID, the Solar Pebble and Solar Aid.
