Accomplishments

The following activities and accomplishments have occurred under the Lumina Project with support through the Rosenfeld Fund at the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley and The Global Roundtable on Climate Change at Columbia University (Millenium Villages Project). Many of our activiteis have involved coordination or collaboration with other institutions, including:

  • World Bank/IFC – Lighting Africa Project
  • MOT/UNIDO program (via the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley) - Student field projects
  • Stanford University, Social Entrepreneurship Startup
  • Significant in-kind support/collaboration from private manufacturers of off-grid lighting products

Past Activities

  • Conducted a successful field demonstration of LED lighting (instead of kerosene) in rural chicken production.
  • Developed a recommeded methodology for introducing kerosene lighting emissions reductions into the CDM carbon trading system.
  • Conducted original research on the consequences of fuel based lighting for indoor air pollution.
  • Developed a quality-assurance framework to protect consumer interests and to ensure that markets are not flooded with low-cost, low-performing products. This has been applied to about 25 products thus far. The results revealed an extraordinary variation in product performance and quality. Several leading manufacturers have used results from our testing to make significant product design improvements, and the World Bank’s Lighting Africa project is adopting and expanding the protocol and applying it to more products.
  • Conducted focus groups with about 90 off-grid lighting users in Western Kenya (in and near Kisumu), which identified realistic product “price points” as well as product attributes desired by end users. This helped the Millennium Villages Project design a market test, and provided manufacturers with impartial feedback on the viability of their products.
  • Conducted a field test including interviews with 50 night vendors in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province, and made detailed measurements of kerosene use among a subset of 23 of these businesses. Obtained a high participation rate (~60%) among those purchasing LED products at unsubsidized market prices, plus indications that users are satisfied with the products.
  • Conducted student-led field research in India and Tibet.
  • Developed and applied a model for comparative assessment of the costs of ownership of a range of off-grid lighting products.
  • Developed a novel data-logger, which has been embedded in LED lights. The logger has provided unique data on usage patterns among the Kenyan night vendors, which will in turn be useful in improving product design (e.g. battery sizing) as well as estimating energy and carbon savings.
  • Carried out what are, to our knowledge, the most detailed and rigorous measurements of particulate emissions ever made for kerosene lamps. The measurements confirm that the least expensive kerosene lamps available in Sub Saharan Africa (i.e. wick lamps made from a simple tin can) have particulate emissions far in excess of recommended U.S. EPA and WHO health standards in both the 2.5- and 10-micron categories. These lamps are widely used in low-income households, small businesses, and by school children. Other, more expensive, types of kerosene lamps (i.e. hurricane style and pressurized mantle lamps) have significantly lower emissions levels, although they still may pose a significant respiratory health hazard under certain circumstances. The large difference in emissions between the different types of kerosene lamps is important, as it indicates that health-motivated interventions should focus lighting alternatives for low-income and otherwise marginalized users of fuel-based lighting, as these people are the most likely to use the low cost can lamps.
  • Conducted a broad-based on-line information gathering and communications effort, including: photographs and field reports, creation of an on-line product directory; compilation of data on pilot projects around the world using a navigable Google map; library of publications; and visibility in major popular media outlets.
  • Contributed to the evolution of the 10-country International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Lighting Africa project. Specific examples include substantial progress towards an “industry standard” for product testing and working with manufacturers to establish an international trade organization to promote product quality and development of markets.
  • Received the Association of Energy Engineers “Project of the Year” award.
  • Built a team for conducting the work that has included, to date, participation by 17 researchers and students in Kenya and the U.S.