Wednesday 2 May 2012

Off grid lighting at Lake Victoria

Approximately 1.6 billion people till today have no regular access to electricity. For those people "off the grid" the alternative is using lamps that use fossil fuels, e.g. kerosine. This is not only environmentally hazardous but also economically costly. The astonishing number of 77 billion liters of kerosine is used for lighting purposes only, emitting 190 million tons of carbon dioxide. 

Lighting company OSRAM has initiated a project at Lake Victoria in Kenya and built a solar-powered energy station called O-hub which can be used by the villagers to recharge batteries, mobile phones and radios.

This is especially important for the fishermen as they used kerosine lamps for fishing at night. With the new battery powered lamps provided by Osram fishermen can decrease costs significantly and minimize pollution on Lake Victoria. 
Although this initiative was already started in 2010 I think it is still an ample example of how sustainable solutions can improve the well being of our society.

Check out the Osram homepage for more information.

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