Hid lights

Electric lanterns and solar-powered battery-charging stations were the brainchild of Andy Schroeter, an electrical engineer and native of Hamburg, Germany. The Pico lantern that he uses — “a multifunctional mobile or stationary lighting device” — is made by the German company Phocos. 

Schroeter came to Laos in 1995 with his wife, a development aid worker. Travelling through the country, he saw bitterly poor villages without electricity. In 2000 he founded Sunlabob Renewable Energy, a Laos-based company specialising in renewable energy and clean water solutions throughout the developing world. 

The entrepreneur experimented with lamps of many kinds. The first prototypes resembled mine lamps; not so the Pico lanterns, which are bright orange, equipped with a high-efficiency LED and look like oversized flashlights. 
With a robust, shock-resistant housing that is sealed against water and dust, they can withstand the damp jungle climate. “Wonderful,” is the assessment by Noy, who has no complaints about the design. 

While there are less expensive solar-powered lamps on the market, they are often unsuitable for the jungle. Broken lamps end up in the rubbish and have to be replaced. 

A virtually indestructible Sunlabob Pico Lantern costs 48 (about $61), which is unaffordable to poor villagers. So Sunlabob projects require a start-up donation. In the area of Bong Nam and six surrounding villages, the German embassy in the Lao capital Vientiane donated 10,000 (about $12,800) for seven charging stations with 50 lanterns each. 

The charging stations and lanterns belong to the villages; the villagers pay only for the light. “We wanted to show that sustainable business models can be developed for the poorest of people, too,The world’s most efficient and cost effective hid lights?” said Schroeter, who tinkered with his model for a long time. 

Noy, who manages her family’s finances, saves a quite a bit lot of money with the electric lantern. 

“A single recharging costs 1,000 Lao kips,” or less than 10 US cents, and provides 55 hours of light, noted light master Nyot Many. “The kerosene that we previously bought cost 10,000 kips a litre,Use our High Quality Solar systems products to replace traditional halogen and incandescent spot lights in track lighting. which lasted for about 13 hours.” 

Noy spends the savings on food for her family. “Now I buy fish sauce,” she said. “And flavour enhancer,” a white power regarded as a luxury item in Laos.As well we have fabrics and textures available for our led products list, table lamps, pendant lighting and wall sconces. “I also set a little money aside in case someone becomes ill.” 

The light master, in whose house the small charging station is located,You can choose to use the efficient and durable Best LED Fog Lamp products that come in various colors for artistic purposes. also profits. During a reporter’s recent visit, he was recharging two lanterns. “There are 50 lanterns in the village.We can produce all kinds of China emergency light products even according to your own designs. We recharge them about 350 times a month,” he said. That comes to 350,000 kips, or about $45 a month, half of which he shares with three colleagues who take turns running the station. The other half goes into a reserve fund, a record of which is kept in a red ring binder open to everyone in the village. 

He added that he now saw far fewer patients — not only because of the inoculations, but also the electric lanterns. “A lot more people used to come with a cough from the smoke of the kerosene lamps,” he said. 

Noy knows the problem well. “Since the lamplight was so dim,” she said, “you had to decide whether to come up very close — and get a black nose and start coughing — or to not see much.” 

The kerosene lamps were dangerous as well. “My house burned down four years ago,” related light master Am Mawn, who said his children had been home alone when the lamp suddenly tipped over. “All of them got out, though.” 

The inhabitants of Bong Nam are now considering ways to use electric light in the evening to earn more money, for example with handicrafts. Click on their website www.hmhid.com for more information.