Will the day when the world's most affordable solar cell lantern "d.light A1" will change the lives of developing countries?

Solar lantern which can be purchased at price of only 5 dollars (about 600 yen) with solar panel and LED light on small body of one hand size is "D.light A1"is. This lantern is being developed as an alternative to fuel lanterns that deliver electric light to the poor areas where electricity networks are not being developed in the world, which may pose danger to health and life.

Launching the world's most affordable solar-powered light - Medium
https://medium.com/@baumgardt/launching-the-world-s-most-affordable-solar-powered-light-9a2398c6c6fa

D.light A1 is a design education program for developing countries that is being offered at Stanford University in the USADesign for Extreme AffordabilityStartup "born from"D.light(Dee · Light) "is a lantern developed by. The white part of the front of the main body is made to shine by the LED and the main body has a handle for hanging it on a desktop or hanging with a strap or hook so that it can be brought in every place of life and used It is.


The main body structure of A1 looks like this. A small solar panel (2) is laid out on the back of the LED (1), and it is possible to store electricity by daylight sunlight. It can be fixed in any place with the handle (3), the power switch (4) on the front of the main body is waterproof and has high durability. Moreover, although it is not reflected in the photograph, it seems that an indicator lamp indicating charging status is also provided.


D.light has developed a variety of products to deliver safe and secure solar lanterns cheaply to people in developing countries where power is not prevailing.


The state of life that such d.light A1 enables is from the following movie.

D.light A1 - YouTube


I can hardly feel it when I am in Japan, but people who are said to be even 2 billion people worldwide live without being able to benefit from electric power.


In such living, the lantern using kerosene (kerosene) is used as a nighttime light. In addition to having the risk of dirty indoor air dirty and fire caused by burning fuel, the economic burden that you have to purchase fuel on a regular basis becomes a big burden especially for people in poor countries I say that.


It was solar lantern of d.light that was developed to solve such a problem. It is said that it will be possible to bring safety and peace of mind in the life with no more simple device with only one button.


Because we do not handle fire, anyone can use it safely from small children to elderly people.


D.light Self-telling "game changer" Solar lantern is being developed as one of the means to improve the world's living though it is simple equipment.


By providing Solar Energy Solutions, d.light Company has a vision of enabling freedom and high quality living. In the movie below, there is a curtain that Sam Goldman, one of co-founder of d.light, introduced Al, when US President Obama visited Kenya in July 2015.

VimeoU.S. President Obama experiences the d.light A1 Solar Lantern


Solar Lantern A1 can be used for 4 hours with 1 charge. In addition to being designed to be highly waterproof and durable, it is designed not to be easily broken, and there is virtually no necessity of replacing the light bulb because it uses LEDs with a lifespan of 60,000 hours.


D.light, which was founded in 2008, has sold about 500,000 solar lantern related products so far. On the company's site you can see related products other than A1, but the latest A1 seems to be the smallest and the most inexpensive product lineup.


D.light says to sold a total of 1 million solar lantern related products by 2020 to change people's livesSet the goaldoing. Whether or not the introduction of inexpensive A1 accelerates the spread of solar lanterns is an area of ​​concern.