Let there be light

Every year, African households and small businesses spend upwards of US$17 billion on lighting, dominated by fuel-based sources such as kerosene; yet despite this huge expenditure, consumers receive little value in return. Two projects aim to change all this – Marie Shields finds out more.

“The Project estimates that, in aggregate, this fuel-based lighting costs the world’s poor US$38 billion each year, and results in about 190 megatons of CO2 emissions, the most important greenhouse gas”

UNESCO estimates that 1.6 billion people, mainly in developing countries, have no access to electricity. One in four people today obtain light with kerosene and other fuels, as well as candles and battery-powered torches. However, these sources are either polluting, inefficient, or both.

An examination of the inefficiencies of kerosene by the Lumina Project proves illuminating: users of kerosene lighting pay 150 times more per unit of useful energy services than those in electrified homes with compact fluorescent lamps (and 600 times more than for traditional incandescent lamps). The Project estimates that, in aggregate, this fuel-based lighting costs the world’s poor US$38 billion each year, and results in about 190 megatons of CO2 emissions, the most important greenhouse gas.

The Lumina Project, founded by Dr. Evan Mills of California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the early 1990s, aims to cultivate technologies and markets for affordable low-carbon off-grid lighting in the developing world. Mills and his team began exploratory work on fuel-based lighting in the early 1990s, In 2001 the Project received a small amount of funding from the International Energy Agency, allowing it to prepare an estimate of the global energy, cost and carbon burden of electric and off-grid lighting.

In addition to Mills, the project team includes 17 people from the Laboratory and Humboldt State University, and from Kenya. Mills and Humboldt’s Dr. Arne Jacobson serve as principal investigators at their respective institutions.

The Lumina Project’s first meaningful funding came in 2007 from The Rosenfeld Fund of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley, followed later that year by grant from the Global Roundtable on Climate Change to work at the Millennium Village in Sauri, in Western Kenya. This work enabled the establishment of a collaboration with Humboldt, through which the project team members were able to embark on in-depth lab work evaluating product quality, and spend more time in the field understanding end-user needs and preferences.

The Project’s initial efforts inspired the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank to create their own initiative, Lighting Africa, which aims to support the global lighting industry in developing affordable, clean and efficient modern lighting and energy solutions specifically for Sub-Saharan Africans. According to the Lighting Africa’s website, it hopes to leverage global expenditures on fuel-based lighting to develop, accelerate and sustain the market for modern off-grid lighting alternatives that offer African consumers considerably more value for their money.

The initiative aims to provide efficient lighting technologies, such as those containing the latest LED, florescent, human-cranking and solar, so that consumers have access to energy sources that are clean, efficient and reliable, at price points that are comparable to typical expenditures for kerosene. A further aim is to create a level playing field rather than picking winners or specific technologies to endorse, supporting all who are willing to commit to market development.

The initiative involves both international as well as country-based activities. In parallel to international activities that are designed to benefit all of Africa, e.g. the web portal, international conferences and the product quality assurance programme, Lighting Africa is conducting specific on-the-ground activities in several African countries.

In addition to the initial work conducted in the pilot countries of Ghana and Kenya, subsequent programme activities are currently being implemented in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia. Drawing from the lessons learned from Lighting Africa’s pilot phase, programme activities will be refined to maximise their effectiveness, country operations will be expanded to other African countries, and the programme will create tools and methodologies that can be extrapolated across Africa (and potentially beyond) to foster the continued spawning of market formation over time.

However, lack of availability of the relevant technology could prove to be a hurdle. According to the Blum Center for Developing Economies, while some lighting manufacturers have been inspired by the efforts of the two projects to enter the off-grid LED market, there are currently no commercially available off-grid lighting products that achieve a satisfactory balance between end-user cost and lighting product performance.

For this reason, Lumina project researchers are developing and implementing an international framework for quality assurance by the end of 2010. The Lumina team is also working to ensure there are at least five high-quality, affordable off-grid lighting products available in Kenya and other African markets, with the hope that this will accelerate development of viable off-grid lighting products. The Project is also carrying out other activities analysing and documenting the health benefits of switching from kerosene lighting to LED-based off-grid lighting.

In another positive development, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced at the Copenhagen climate conference last December the launch of a new initiative to promote clean energy technologies in developing countries. The Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (Climate REDI) will accelerate deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in developing countries.

Climate REDI includes three new clean energy technology programmes and the funding needed to launch a renewable energy program under the World Bank’s Strategic Climate Fund, including the Solar and LED Energy Access Program, which will accelerate deployment of affordable solar home systems and LED lanterns to those without access to electricity.  This programme is expected to yield immediate economic and public health benefits by providing households with low-cost and quality-assured alternatives to kerosene.

With this new programme coming on top of all the work currently being done by both the Lumina Project and Lighting Africa, it seems the future could finally be looking brighter for the millions of Africans currently living without access to affordable, non-polluting sources of power.

The Lumina Project’s mission

Enabling companies to innovate more rapidly. Innovation in off-grid lighting solutions has thus far come almost exclusively from small companies and non-profits, which often lack the technical expertise and equipment to design products and assess their target markets. Results from the Project’s field projects and laboratory testing have helped private companies make the business case for their initiatives and target their efforts.

Advising international organisations. The Project has consulted to USAID, UNHCR and The World Bank (Lighting Africa Project) on ways they can integrate efficient off-grid lighting into their existing activities.

Performing market research. A growing number of pilot projects are taking place around the world but do not tend to publish substantive results, relying instead on brief, anecdotal assertions of success. The Lumina Project is unique in both the depth and transparency of its field tests, with all results published in the public domain.

Assessing product quality. Lumina’s work has demonstrated that there are widespread material problems with product quality. In response, the Project has established a protocol and applied it to more than a dozen products, which has influenced manufacturers to make improvements. It also served as the inspiration for a World Bank workshop on the topic.

Addressing key issues. Private companies often lack the incentive to explore issues that do not yield intellectual property. Examples include assessment of the indoor-air-quality impacts of kerosene lighting and the usage of fuelwood for illumination. Both of these are subjects of ongoing investigation by the Lumina Project, and the results will be shared widely.

The following types of services are currently provided by Lighting Africa:

Market information
Lighting Africa is conducting research in order to share critical business intelligence with companies and organisations interested in entering the Africa off-grid lighting market. Such information includes data on consumer needs, lighting uses and preferences, current expenditures on off-grid lighting, potential distribution channels, prevailing policy and regulatory frameworks and sources of finance.

Quality assurance
In close consultation with other stakeholders, Lighting Africa is developing a multi-pronged quality assurance program aimed at helping consumers make informed purchasing decisions while also aiding manufacturers in improving product quality to best meet consumer needs and expectations.

Business linkages
Strengthening ties between the global lighting industry and local service providers to design, develo, and deliver lighting products to off-grid communities in Africa. For example, Lighting Africa facilitates business linkages through its interactive business-to-business website, a social networking tool which convenes the industry around topical areas.

Consumer awareness
In order to inform consumers about modern off-grid alternatives to fuel-based lighting such as kerosene lamps and empower them to make educated purchasing decisions, Lighting Africa is planning to conduct consumer awareness and information campaigns in a number of African countries.