The Challenge

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals identify electricity as essential to eradicating poverty. More than 1.5 billion people lack access to electricity, and 400 million of those are in India. Most households rely on kerosene lanterns and candles to meet their lighting needs. But these sources of light are dangerous, low quality and expensive. Data indicates that families can spend as much as 10 to 15 percent of monthly income on kerosene.

The Innovation

d.light was founded in 2007 with the goal of eliminating kerosene as a home energy source and is now looking to transform the way people use and pay for energy around the world. It has developed a suite of products that range from single-function lanterns for reading and ambient light, to more advanced multi-function solar light solutions and full home systems.

The Impact

More than 60 million people around the world are benefiting from d.light’s solar solutions. By replacing a kerosene lamp with a d.light product, a consumer can expect monthly cost savings of up to 10-25%, increased health and safety from the elimination of kerosene fumes and fires, and increased productivity due to the superior quality of light. In total, d.light’s lanterns have allowed customers to save more than $5 billion in energy-related expenses. Twenty-three million tons of carbon emissions have been offset and 34 billion hours have been created for working and studying.

News & Updates