The World’s Only Solar Light Bulb
By: Maria Luna Issue: Big Ideas, Smart People Section: Business
Did you know that more than 1.6 billion people worldwide—a quarter of the world’s population—lives without electricity, and billions more live with intermittent electricity?
Did you know that each year there are approximately 190 million tons of carbon dioxide released by fuel lanterns—the equivalent of 30 million cars?
Did you know that more than 1 million people die every year from fires caused by fuel lighting?
Nokero, a Colorado-based company with production in Asia, is working to diminish these staggering figures and improve lives by introducing the world’s only solar light bulb as an economical, safe, and clean-burning alternative.
Nokero created the light bulbs with a goal of lowering overall CO2 emissions globally by improving quality and efficiency in consumption. In the developing world, people do not have access to high efficiency lights, stoves, or other modern necessities. Instead, citizens burn kerosene-filled lamps for light, and sometimes heat, made from recycled cans and strips of cloth. These lamps generate dangerous fumes that can cause health problems and are relatively expensive for people making an average of $1 per day.
A PERSONAL STORY OF LIGHT
Like many Kenyans, Christine Nyambaya has been living with little or no indoor light for years. She was eager to learn more about the world and her surroundings, so she could one day make a better life for herself and her family, as she grows up in the beautiful region surrounding Lake Kenyatta.
Until recently, learning was unnecessarily difficult for Christine. On rainy days and dark nights, Christine struggled in her dimly lit hut to read her books. On sunny days, time was mostly taken by chores and helping with work around the village—not studying. Sometimes at night, by the sputtering flame of a kerosene candle, she could read, but unfortunately the cost of kerosene was prohibitive, making each moment of use an extra burden on her family.
Christine received the solar light bulb as a gift from nonprofit friends based in Kenya and Holland, and it has helped her with reading, learning, and just enjoying some of the same simple freedoms we take for granted in the developed world each time we flick on a light switch and lay back to enjoy a good book.
The target market for the bulb is the extremely poor—those at the bottom rung of the proverbial ladder—those who have little or no chance of connecting to an electrical grid anytime in the near future. Advancements in the technology could increase efficiencies and reduce pollution if widely distributed. In fact, the Nokero bulb’s sustainable design, production, distribution, and consumption make the product an ecological interest, as well as a social one.
Under these assumptions, Stephen Katsaros, a Colorado native, partnered with XammaX International Ltd. to form Nokero International Ltd. “By utilizing best-practice product development, quality assurance and procurement, Nokero is able to deliver the world’s only solar powered light bulb at a quality and price point that cannot be met by traditional methods,” said Katsaros. The bulb is easy to carry, is durable, and sustainable. Today, there are two versions of the bulb that are commercially available, the N100 and N200. The $15.00 N100 is a single-phase four-panel rechargeable bulb that is about the size of a standard bulb and can withstand tough outdoor conditions. The N200, a multi-switch bulb, charges with sunlight and can last up to six hours.
What separates the Nokero LED light bulb from other LED lights is its intention and design. With the intent on replacing kerosene lamps in developing countries and a design to light as an electric light bulb would, the Nokero solution provides peace of mind, stability and progress in many situations from home lighting, camping, cooking, working, reading, or during natural disaster relief efforts, and it is a lighting solution for the 1.6 billion people who lack access to electricity.
For example, in the wake of the Haitian earthquake, there were thousands of people without basic necessities, like light, water, and shelter. Armed with 200 of the Nokero bulbs, filmmaker Kurt Mann went to Haiti to deliver the bulbs to orphanages outside of Port-au-Prince and to tent cities in the surrounding areas. Additionally, the bulbs prevent burn risks, promote round-the-clock productivity especially during the evening, lower fire risks and air pollution, and increase nighttime security. Said Katsaros, “It’s one thing to design a solar light bulb; it’s quite another to design an international company capable of making that bulb affordable to someone who makes pennies a day.”
To augment the distribution of the cutting-edge technologies produced by Nokero, the company has launched Lights for Life, a joint effort by Project C.U.R.E. and Nokero, to get bulbs donated and distributed to families living in resource-poor environments.
The Nokero bulb is a safer, non-pollutive, sustainable, and attractive option to bring light to the developing world. Lack of electricity is an enormous global problem, but Nokero has found a solution. To learn more about Nokero, visit www.nokero.com. To donate to the Lights for Life Program, visit www.nokero.com/buygive.
Maria Luna is a staff writer and copy editor at ICOSA magazine. She has a B.A. in Communication and a B.F.A. in Multimedia from the University of Colorado at Denver. She is currently seeking her M.A. at the University of Denver in Liberal Studies, Arts and Culture. She is a committee member of the AIGA Colorado Sustainability team. She is also a member of the National Federation of Press Women.
