Apollo lanterns improving lives in Nepal

We are proud to be a part of this innovative and exciting project. We looked at this a beta test for larger-scale projects and are truly excited to continue to be a part of improving peoples’ lives in the villages of Nepal and elsewhere in the world.

The problem:

The Himalayan development landscape is littered with development efforts whose projects have met with limited success or even total failure due to a raft of issues ranging from the inability to work with local social structures, inappropriate concepts, poor implementation, technological and maintenance failures and more. I’d like to present a conceptually simple project that offers significant benefits, costs that generate net savings to villagers, and a fast and reasonably easy implementation.

Let’s start with the needs. A large percentage of rural Nepal is bereft of electricity and villagers rely on kerosene “tukis” for lighting in the form wick lamps. Without going into elaborate details of the evils of tukis let me enumerate a few of the downsides of burning kerosene. The quality and luminance of the light is minimal making it difficult to read by, marginal for preparing food and almost useless for detailed work. The thick black fumes emanating from the burning kerosene irritate the lungs and mucous membranes. Fire hazards to home and users including small children are substantial. The last item on this short list of evils is that the cost of kerosene is extremely high and rising fast. Villagers have little disposable cash and the cost of kerosene for lighting is both increasing as an expense and as a percentage of overall monthly expenses.

The solution:

Let’s consider the best alternative to kerosene lighting. In the last few years there has been a virtual revolution in energy efficient lighting in the form of LED (light emitting diode) lighting. Prices are dropping and energy efficiency is rising. After much research I found that the best lanterns for this job would be Black Diamond’s rechargeable Apollo lantern. So, given a better choice of lighting, the next question is how to power these lamps. Solar power is a technology whose time has come. Like LED lights, solar power continues to get better and cheaper, and equipment availability is reasonably widespread. LED lighting powered by solar energy has almost unlimited location possibilities.

The success:

After 10 days at Namarkhu village I am very pleased to say we've had success beyond our expectations. Social organization within the village was very smooth and productive, although village meetings in Nepal require significant patience. Transport to and from the village required four arduous trips. Each trip took an entire day with a long bus ride, hours on a worn-out, overcrowded jeep with virtually no suspension and three to four hours of hiking. Ironically, I had picked the area for its ease of access, but much of village Nepal is much more difficult to get to. Initial conceptual and organizational meetings involved the entire village, and other meetings were held during three days with the village leaders and/or the mothers’ group. I then travelled to Damauli where I had shipped the solar panels, batteries and accessories. The next day we reserved a jeep with the solar equipment and the lanterns and returned to Namarkhu village.

READ THE REST HERE: http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/journal/mountain/knowledge/apollo?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social