Access to electricity is vital to increasing living standards and powering economic growth.  More than a century after the invention of the light bulb, nearly 80% of the people in sub-Saharan Africa live have no access to modern energy. The cruel cycle of energy poverty cripples progress, especially in rural areas.

Dangerous fuel-based lighting  - kerosene (paraffin) and candles - uses an estimated 15% of already meagre household incomes. Fuel-based lighting is inefficient, polluting and creates serious respiratory problems. Millions of children try to study by the weak flames of candles. Untold numbers of them become ill or die each year from drinking kerosene. Burns from fires are the second leading cause of accidental death of children under five in South Africa alone. Thousands of shacks in high density slums across the continent catch fire causing immense loss of property and life.

Freeplay Foundation Lights-up Lives

To address the huge demand for off-grid, portable, safe, clean energy sources, the Freeplay Foundation has expanded into renewable lighting. We undertook lighting needs assessments of vulnerable households - mainly those headed by children or grandmothers or where someone was ill. Conducted in rural and peri-urban areas of South Africa, we wanted to understand what types of fuel-based lighting these households used, what the lighting was e used for and how often, and the cost per month.

Based on the assessment results, we are working with Freeplay Energy to create a range of fit-for-purpose clean energy lights and flashlights, called ‘Lifelights’. Like the Lifeline radio, they are  charged by either solar energy or by Freeplay’s patented wind-up technology, which is more than twice as efficient as other wind-up mechanisms. We field trialled prototypes of the first‘Lifelights’ in South Africa near the Swaziland frontier to ensure the lights would meet the needs of its end-users.

These lights can be safely used for studying, grading papers, home-based micro-enterprises, night time sales, night births,  medical emergencies and increased security. To ensure Lifelights are sustainable and contribute to economic empowerment, we will seek market-based channels to distribute Lifelights with an emphasis on the participation of women’s groups and burn victims.

Idea to Impact Process

Clean, self-powered energy solutions will help vulnerable families improve the quality of their lives and extend their productive hours each day. As with the Lifeline radio, we followed what the Lemelson Foundation has termed the ‘idea to impact process’ which outlines the process of taking an idea through the stages of conception, incubation, market development and dissemination. The process emphasises entrepreneurship and innovation.