LED Lighting Revolution For Developing World

This is a problem that has long been looking for a solution at theproper price point. Quite rightly, the economic argument is alreadythere in terms of a divertable expense. That price point now appearsto have been met and appropriate product is appearing on the shelves.
In a world were a handful of men can muck together a basic home outof local materials in the wild and heating is never the issue,getting communication and lighting at night is a huge leg up. Thesetechnologies will also support battery charging for the cell phones.
What is really impressive is that the modern housing we expect formodernization is generally still in these peoples future as is properaccess to healthcare, education and much else we take for granted.
Solar Powered LED lighting Revolution for the developing world
SEPTEMBER 04, 2012
http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/09/solar-powered-led-lighting-revolution.html
Two thirds of therural population in developing countries are withoutelectricity. This leaves limited options for lighting.

Many turn tokerosene or paraffin oil. It is estimated that 88 billion liters ofkerosene are burned purely for light. One liter of kerosene isestimated to produce 3kg CO2 when burnt.

Research hasshown that basic oil lamps typically produce just 1% of the light ofa 100W light bulb.Nokero is one of manycompanies making LED solar powered lights and solar powered mobilephone chargers and battery chargers. The N200 is about 13.5lumens on high, and about 5 lumens on low. DBT 1.9 hours whentested with 5000 watt-hrs/m^2-Day on hi setting, 6.6 hours on low.The battery will last for approximately 1.5 years, and can bereplaced to keep the bulb in operation. The Nokero N200 can withstandrain, but is not waterproof and cannot be submerged. Productperformance varies based on intensity of sunlight and duration ofcharging time.

The N200 lantern madeby another American firm, Nokero (for “no kerosene”), has adesign inspired by a light bulb, and costs about $15. It worked wellfor cooking, cleaning and sitting around a table, but was deemed lesssuitable for studying. The Solar Muscle, a solar lamp made byFlexiway, can be used as a desk light. Its compact, square design,with a solar panel on one side and LEDs on the other, also allowsseveral lamps to be snapped together to make a larger panel. Thesquare design arose after an earlier, circular version was mistakenfor a landmine, says James Fraser of Flexiway. The firm can pack2,750 of its $10 lamps in a cubic metre—a plus in countries wheretransport is expensive. They are being distributed by NGOs in PapuaNew Guinea and several African countries.

The best solarlamp among those tested was the Sun King, produced by an Indiancompany, Greenlight Planet. It was purchased off the shelf from anAfrican supermarket for $24. The Sun King’s almost dazzling lightwas appreciated by users, as was its seemingly unbreakable design.The awkward-looking wire stand worked well. The lamp’s onlydrawback was that its solar panel is separate, rather than beingbuilt into the lamp.
Economist - themobile phone has been quickly improving the lives of the world’spoorest people for the last decade. 
For the next decadethe mobile phone will be joined by the solar-powered lamp, made up ofa few light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a solar panel and a smallrechargeable battery, encased in a durable plastic shell. Just as thespread of mobile phones in poor countries has transformed lives andboosted economic activity, solar lighting is poised to improveincomes, educational attainment and health across the developingworld.

Phones spread quicklybecause they provided a substitute for travel and poorinfrastructure, helped traders find better prices and boostedentrepreneurship. For a fisherman or a farmer, buying a mobilephone made sense because it paid for itself within a few months.The economic case for solar lighting is even clearer: buying alamp that charges in the sun during the day, and then produces lightat night, can eliminate spending on the kerosene that fuelsconventional lamps. Of the 1.4 billion people without access togrid electricity, most live in equatorial latitudes where the sunsets quickly and there is only a brief period of twilight. But solarlamps work anywhere the sun shines, even in places that are off thegrid, or where grid power is expensive or unreliable.

The potentialsavings are huge. According to a recent study by the InternationalFinance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, $10 billion a year isspent on kerosene in sub-Saharan Africa alone to illuminate homes,workplaces and community areas. Globally, the figure has been put at$36 billion. Flexiway, an Australian-Argentine maker of solar lamps,found in its trials in Tanzania that households often spent morethan 10% of their income on kerosene, and other studies have put thefigure as high as 25%. And kerosene does not merely eat up householdincome that could be spent on other things. It is also dangerous.Kerosene lanterns, a century-old technology, are fire hazards. Thewicks smoke, the glass cracks, and the light may be too weak to readby. The World Health Organisation says the fine particles in kerosenefumes cause chronic pulmonary disease. Burning kerosene also producesclimate-changing carbon-dioxide emissions.

Demand forcheap, efficient lighting is only going to grow. Even in thebest-case scenarios, the number of people without electricity willtick up to 1.5 billion by 2030, as population growth outstripselectrification. The rate of innovation in delivery models,technology and design, in both rich and poor countries, suggests abright future for solar lamps—and a slow dimming of kerosene’sflame.