In South Africa, 20% of the population does not have access the the grid (the national power network) and therefore rely on poorly efficient, expensive and dangerous energy sources such as paraffin, kerozen and candles for their lighting, cooking and heating.
This poor energy security is a critical hindrance to the empowerment of women and education of children, who spend a large amount of the day time seeking wood or other energy sources used for cooking. At night, the poor lighting provided by kerozen or candles prevent children from studying in good conditions and is often harmful to their health and security, the risks of fire being extremely high.
Tackling those issues with a simple lamp
Powertime people made a captivating encounter a few days ago. Vijay Mitha is a social entrepreneur based in Cape Town.
His company, Shakti Energy, has developed the Nuru light, an energy efficient, portable, rechargeable LED lamp providing bright, clean light to households alienated from the national grid. These lights can be used by children to read or study, by women to cook or as simple lighting is the house.
This multi-function lamp can be used whether mounted on the head as a headlamp, worn around the neck, hung from ceiling with included hook, mounted in a bottle or placed on a flat surface.
Amazingly, five of these lamps can be fully recharged by a gentle 20 minutes pedaling on a “Power Cycle” located in the community.
Positive, multi-dimensional impact on the community
The Nuru light impacts rural and urban off-grid communities on several dimension of their daily lives. A non-negligible share of the income is therefore kept withing the community and stimulates its growth.
The light is sold by “township entrepreneurs”, selling lights to their communities and responsible for a centre where those can be recharged with a “Power Cycle”, and where cell phones can also be recharded safely.
The Nuru light is an environmentally-friendly device. It is made of recyclable plastic, and the light is generated by LEDs, the most energy-efficient bulbs on the market.
In many communities, life stops after dark due to the absence of lighting. With the Nuru light, children are provided with simple, reliable lighting and can study after dark in better conditions.
Finally, the Nuru light is extremely safe compared to the harmful and dangerous paraffin and kerozen lights often used in off-grid communities. Replacing those dangerous lighting sources by Nuru lights drastically reduces the risk of fire and creates safer living spaces.
Simple, scalable innovations such as the one imagined by Vijay do not provide a definitive answer to the many needs of alienated communities but change thousands of lives to the better.
To know more about Shakti Energy, visit their website!
(Picture: https://fr.pinterest.com/pin/421719952583051198/ )