{"id":2793,"date":"2012-09-27T21:45:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/news\/2012\/september\/solutions-sought-to-end-use-of-kerosene-lamps-bbc-world-service\/"},"modified":"2019-07-10T08:12:49","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T08:12:49","slug":"solutions-sought-to-end-use-of-kerosene-lamps-bbc-world-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/solutions-sought-to-end-use-of-kerosene-lamps-bbc-world-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Solutions sought to end use of kerosene lamps [BBC World Service]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once a week Badriya walks six miles from her village in East Tanzania to the nearest shop, where she spends a quarter of her family’s weekly earnings on kerosene so she can light her home.<\/strong><\/p>\n

She is one of nearly two billion people across the globe who have no access to electricity.<\/p>\n

Kerosene lamps are widely used for lighting in rural areas of Asia and Africa where electrical distribution is either not available, or too costly for widespread use.<\/p>\n

Yet using kerosene for lighting is extremely inefficient, dangerous and expensive, and it has extensive health and environmental drawbacks.<\/p>\n

The World Bank estimates that breathing kerosene fumes is the equivalent of smoking two packets of cigarettes a day and two-thirds of adult females with lung cancer in developing nations are non-smokers.<\/p>\n

A number of non-government organisations (NGOs) are committed to eradicating the use of kerosene lamps by introducing solar power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise it is a huge challenge but also a massive opportunity\u201d John Keane MD Sunny Money<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One such NGO is Sunny Money, and managing director John Keane emphatically points out that it is an NGO which firmly believes in business-based solutions.<\/p>\n

“We have always been about creating a sustainable business model. The challenge has been to help people to start up their own businesses to sell solar products, and to build a momentum in the market,” he says.<\/p>\n

Citing the mobile phone as an example in Africa – the NGO is trying to replicate that, to sell affordable products – lanterns, phone chargers, lights for a few rooms, costing anything from $8 to $100 (\u00a35-\u00a362).<\/p>\n

“We try to identify entreprenuerial-minded people who would be able to explain solar products,” he says.<\/p>\n

They intend to raise awareness, raise trust, and raise the belief that solar is a viable option.<\/p>\n

Facts about kerosene<\/strong><\/p>\n