Solar LED Light Kit Donation for Brightgreen Light Up Kenya Project

Brightgreen introduces the Light Up Kenya Project:
When You Light Up Your Home, You Also Light Up A Home In Kenya

Melbourne-based LED company Brightgreen launches the Brightgreen Light Up Kenya Project, a solar-powered charity initiative that tackles the issue of light poverty in off-grid areas of Kenya.

For every $2000 purchase made through a Brightgreen retailer, the LED lighting company will donate a solar LED kit that includes a solar panel, two bulbs, a power storage system and mobile phone charging dock to an off-grid home in Kenya.

Why Kenya?

We believe that everyone should have access to high-quality lighting, no matter where in the world they are. Brightgreen currently distributes high-quality LED lighting to Kenyan customers via out partner in Mombasa but these products rely on permanent access to electricity - something that 35 million (80 per cent) of the country's inhabitants don't have.

The most popular alternative to electrical lighting used by off-grid families is the paraffin lamp. These are expensive to fuel, costing up to 25% of a typical family income, and produce toxic fumes that are responsible for increasingly dangerous health and respiratory issues, leading to up to 12,000 deaths per year.

How does the project work?

For every $2000 purchase made through a Brightgreen retailer - the average expenditure when lighting a home here in Australia - customers will be given an 8-digit code, which allows them to activate their very own solar LED kit in a home in Kenya.

This code lets us track each kit individually, ensuring that it is deployed effectively and providing a means for our customers to access information about the home that they have lit up.

Each kit includes:

• 2 low-energy LED bulbs: 4 hours of light each when fully charged
• 3W solar panel: light-weight, ceiling-mountable or portable
• universal phone charging dock
• replaceable battery power storage unit

Brightgreen has partnered with the Nairobi based lighting provider Sunlite Solar to ensure the responsible distribution and management of each Light Up Kenya donation.

Sunlite Solar is the brainchild of Derek Steel, a Kenyan with Australian roots who lived and studied for a decade in Perth before returning to his birthplace in Nairobi.

The Bigger Picture

"By providing renewable, easily maintainable lighting to families in rural Kenya, Brightgreen aims to enable a better quality of life around the world," comments Brightgreen CEO and Head of Design David O'Driscoll.

"Not only is access to sustainable lighting important for social and financial development, it is also the gateway to improved education and independent business endeavors, empowering off-grid Kenyan communities to build their own futures."

For more information, visit Brightgreen.com/lightupkenya