d.light design
Lighting Solutions for Families
d.light design's solar lights provide cleaner, safer and cheaper lighting to families at the bottom of the pyramid.
Investment Stories
SNAPSHOT
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d.light design manufactures and sells affordable, high-quality solar lights to off-grid households in over 40 countries around the world, including India, Tanzania and Kenya. The company’s mission: to enable households without reliable electricity to attain the same quality of life as those with electricity. More than 3 million people have benefited from d.light’s clean, safe and bright solar lights. By the end of 2015 d.light seeks to improve the quality of life of 50 million people.
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. The data indicates that families can spend as much as 10 to 15 percent of monthly income on kerosene.
The Innovation
- d.light design was founded in 2007 with the goal of eliminating kerosene. It has developed a suite of products that include d.light S250, a solar lantern and mobile phone charger; the d.light S10, which has no recurring costs and produces eight hours of light on a single charge; and d.light S1. At $8, the S1 is the world's most afforadable high-quality solar light.
The Impact
- More than 2 million people are benefiting from d.light’s solar lanterns. By replacing a kerosene lamp with a d.light product, a consumer can expect to experience cost savings of up to $150 over five years, increased safety from the elimination of accidental fires caused by kerosene lamps, better health and increased productivity.
- In total, d.light’s lanterns have resulted in 60 million USD in savings for families who no longer rely on kerosene and 65 million USD in increased productivity. Carbon emissions have been reduced by 82,618 tons.