Moses Mucigu

Clean Energy Foundation Improving Quality of Life in Kenya With Nokero’s Solar Lights

Moses Mucigu can afford to smile as he holds a solar charged Nokero N100 bulb and his old tin kerosene lamp. The solar charged bulb was provided by the Clean Energy Foundation (CEF)  in an effort to “Stamp out tin kerosene lamps” in Africa. 

(January 31, 2011) Nairobi, Kenya--The news is often horrific.

In Nairobi, Kenya “two small children were burned to death when a fire razed their house. The children, only one and three, were left under the care of their five-year-old sister when their parents went to work on their farm around 6 a.m. According to neighbors in Kanyamaji village, Boro Division in the Siaya District, the older sister left the house to hunt for white ants nearby. A tin kerosene lamp that was lighted exploded, setting the mud walled house where the children were sleeping on fire. The parents and the villagers attempted to save the children, but failed. Siaya Police Chief said the house was razed and that the two children were burned beyond recognition.”

The United Nations estimates that 1.5 billion people across the globe still live without electricity, including 85 percent of Kenyans. Millions of rural Kenyans use tin lamps fueled by kerosene to provide light after it gets dark, but one organization is trying to change that because the lamps cause fires and emit harmful pollutants. They are also expensive.

The Clean Energy Foundation (CEF), a for profit organization based in Phoenix, Arizona, has a subsidiary office in Nairobi, Kenya that offers a safer, more affordable alternative to kerosene lamps. The renewable energy comes in the form of solar-powered light bulbs and replaces dangerous kerosene lamps that produce significantly less light than solar powered bulbs.

Kenyan Moses Mucigu, a casual laborer with a wife and young daughter, lives in Kiambu County in a village called Muhara. He tills his own land and finds work at construction sites. Money is tight.

Mucigu received a solar-powered Nokero N100 bulb from CEF in December. The product, which costs about $15, is made by Nokero, a Denver-based company whose name means No Kerosene. The bulb has replaced Mucigu’s kerosene lamp, which emitted unhealthy particulates, something Mucigu wanted his young daughter to avoid. 

Mucigu uses his new light for studying, as a flashlight for walking to town at night, and everything else he does when darkness arrives in his Kenyan village. He receives six hours of light from the bulb, which collects energy from the sun by day and releases clean, non-toxic light at night. "Nilisahau mambo ya mafuta,” Mr. Mucigu said. It means: "I have now forgotten (about) buying kerosene.”

Mucigu’s situation is typical. 

During the evening in most rural communities in developing countries like Kenya the work in the field stops and people return home because there is no light to illuminate their workplaces.  After dark, most homes in poor areas are lit by two kerosene lamps; one in the main house and the other in the kitchen, which is typically a separate structure. The kerosene lamp, a simple device which consists of a tin tank and a wick, is a common source of light for people in Kenya, but it’s problematic to say the least. 

"Lighting the lamp" is a daily ritual that starts just before dusk. Before the lamp is lit, families check to see if there is enough kerosene. This is done  by shaking the lamp vigorously. The hope is that none of it spills on them.

Anthony Muiruri, employed by Clean Energy Foundation in Nairobi, Kenya, has seen firsthand the negative effects of kerosene lamps.

Muiruri said children use the lamps as a source of light to study during the evening, but it isn’t easy. The lamps cast long shadows, so the children have to sit next to the lamp, often in crowded conditions.

Moses Kinuthia, (left) a high school student, uses a Nokero N100 bulb to study for two hours each evening. His mother uses a similar light when she shops in the evening, carrying it as a flash light to illuminate her path. It’s projected the bulb will save Kinuthia $120 annually on kerosene.

 
“They inhale harmful toxins from the lamps,” says Muiruri. “Their vision is affected. Their breathing gets poorer from repeated use.”

There is mounting evidence that exposure to indoor air pollution increases the likelihood of common, serious health problems, including childhood pneumonia and chronic lung disease.

Stefano Pagiola, in his book Generating Public Sector Resources to Finance Sustainable Development, said “exposure to indoor air pollution is a major factor contributing to the global burden of disease, including acute respiratory infections in children, chronic obstructive lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, lung cancer and still births.”

The World Bank estimates that breathing kerosene fumes from an indoor lamp is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, and the Lumina Project estimates that nearly one million people a year die from kerosene lamp fires. An additional 1.6 million are estimated to die from the long term effects of indoor air pollution.

Pagiola estimates indicate exposure to indoor air pollution in developing countries causes over 2 million deaths each year with 75 percent in rural areas.

“In this day and age, there’s no reason that should happen,” said Steve Katsaros, who invented the Nokero solar light bulb used by Mucigu and other CEF clients. “We have the technology and know-how to solve this problem.”

Katsaros and Nokero took on the problem of kerosene lighting by trademarking the world’s only solar light bulb in June of last year. They followed up in November with a new version of the bulb, one which can last 6-8 hours on one day’s charge, and which is 60 percent brighter than the original version.
Katseros’ vision is to improve everyday life for millions worldwide.

When family members have to get something from the other room or outside, they must take the lamp with them. “Everyone left inside the house waits in darkness until the lamp returns,” Muiruri said. “Sometimes, because the lamp has an open flame, the wind blows it out, which only adds to the anxiety. Every evening you have to make sure the match box is near you when you go to sleep.”

Once the family is finished with whatever they were doing that evening, the person appointed to  “turn off” the light escorts the rest of the family to their bedrooms. Then they return to bed with the lamp beside it. They blow the flame off the lamp to put it out. For kids who fall asleep while studying, they risk inhaling poisonous gases and soot or worse, knocking over the lamp, which could spill the kerosene on the books. It’s a fire hazard. Sometimes the kerosene in the lamp gets really hot and explodes like it did that dreadful day in the Kanyamaji village.

The Clean Energy Foundation knows there is a better, cleaner, more affordable and safer lighting solution.  In rural areas renewable resources like the Nokero light bulbs are helping improve learning conditions.
In Kenya, kerosene for a family's small tin lamp costs about $2.5 per week or between 850 and 1,200 Kenya Shillings (KES) monthly. That’s approximately $10 to $15 each month to light their homes.

In other developing countries kerosene is a big part of the daily budget. According to Mr. Pagiola, “in rural Nepal, where lighting is generally achieved by the use of kerosene lamps, the kerosene bill accounts for 10 to 20 percent of a typical families earnings.” Muiruri of CEF said some families can go for a week without kerosene to light the lamp because they do not have money to buy the fuel. 
CEF’s clients can upgrade to a more advanced solar system if they choose. 

The bulb offers a portable lighting solution and is the smallest system of multiple solutions that CEF sells. They have larger roof mounted solar panels that can power multiple lights for the entire home, charge cell phones, run fans, radios, and televisions. 

Because a great majority (85 percent) of the Kenyan population is off grid and does not have easy access to electricity, only large cities like Nairobi have an electric utility service available.  Solar is a better option for most people in Kenya, and CEF can size systems to customer’s needs and budgets.

Even in the bigger cities like Nairobi, where the two small children died from the fire caused by the kerosene lamp, there is widespread concern. At night, kerosene lamps and illegal connections to the city's main power supply provide intermittent light across the region.  

It’s a problem that CEF is helping to solve. 

By making solar lighting products in Africa available, CEF hopes to reduce the use of kerosene lamps, save lives and money, improve health conditions, provide brighter lighting alternatives and improve education. It’s short-term goal is to partner with like-minded organizations to enhance its distribution network and ultimately improve the lives of millions of people.

More information:

Clean Energy Foundation

1411 South 47th Avenue

St. #110

Phoenix, AZ 85043

(602) 278-6545

www.cefnd.org