Liter of Light is an Open Source knowledge-sharing project on access to energy. Born in 2011, Liter of Light aims at bringing affordable, ecological and socially sustainable lighting to all areas of the world in a state of energy poverty. Through a network of partnerships around the world, Liter of Light volunteers teach marginalized communities how to use recycled plastic bottles and locally sourced materials to illuminate their homes, businesses, and streets.
There is no future without the word “sustainability”: for this reason Liter of Light offers free training to beneficiaries in order to create local micro-businesses that can bring sustainable development to the community. The skills acquired by the new technicians help to significantly facilitate the monitoring and maintenance of solar lamps. Through an open-source approach, training, knowledge-sharing and social business Liter Of Light wants to generate a systemic impact on enlightened communities. Indeed, ensuring access to energy means influencing multiple aspects of people’s daily lives: from their safety when traveling, to the quality of their time during the evening, to work inclusion, and to achieving economic independence. All this is possible only by planning each intervention together with the communities involved.
They delivered 23 projects in 10 countries, installing 4.440 power plants, 784 streetlights, 3170 lanterns, 439 lightboxes and 46 chargers, supporting 49.503 people, saving 8.209 Kg of CO2 emissions per year, and cooperating with 11 different entities. Liter of Light’s open source technology has been recognized by the UN and adopted for use in some UNHCR camps. Liter of Light is the proud recipient of the 2016 St. Andrews Prize for the Environment, the 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize, and a winner of the 2014-2015 World Habitat Award.
Recommended by Lorenzo Giorgi
Main source: https://literoflight.org / https://www.literoflight.eu/en/
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