My dear friend W. told me about the following project, stating that it was right up my alley and in keeping with my resolution to reuse/reduce/renew. She is absolutely right. I am posting the press release for the exposure to a project I wholeheartedly support.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Bent
markbent@sunnightsolar.com
713-408-2485
www.bogolight.com
www.sunnightsolar.com

Changing the World with Solar Lighting - Houston Firm Brightens Africa and the Developing World – And Slows Global Warming, Assists Displaced Refugees, Educates Orphans and Provides Free Solar Flashlights to our Deployed Military Personnel

Houston, TX – January 25, 2007 – Give or take a few million, there are two billion people in the world without access to affordable and healthy lighting when the sun sets, and a Houston based firm, SunNight Solar Enterprises, intends upon changing all of this with a low cost, lightweight, water and shock resistant, renewable energy solar powered light. Dubbed the BoGo – for Buy one/Give one – see below for details, these lights are already lighting the night in United Nations High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) camps across Africa and the developing world. They are also providing illumination for children in schools and orphanages in Rwanda, Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Angola, Tanzania, Haiti, Bolivia, Eritrea and elsewhere.

Kerosene lanterns remain the most commonly used light source in locales where there is no electrical grid, followed by candles and conventional flashlights. The fumes from burning kerosene are unhealthy and each lantern emits 100 kilos of global warming carbon gas on an annual basis- equal to 52 vehicles in the US. Kerosene is also costly to the user – the World Bank estimates individuals at the bottom of the economic pyramid spend up to one third of their income on kerosene for illumination. This situation has caused the International Finance Corporation, which is part of the World Bank Group, to launch a four year program at a cost of 7 million to explore how the use of solar powered light emitting diodes devices can be expanded with a goal of replacing kerosene lanterns. SunNight Solar is a partner with the IFC in this endeavor.

Candles are poor illuminators and are expensive. Conventional flashlights create problems with improper battery disposal contaminating ground water and food crops; they are also prohibitively expensive to the majority of developing nation end.(battery replacement. Wood and brush is also collected and burned for illumination, which causes top soil erosion and further adds to environmental degradation and global warming. Lack of inexpensive and healthy lighting impacts on education, security and overall quality of life for approximately one-third of the world citizens, and SunNight Solar intends upon bringing change and light to millions of people – with the assistance of the American people, as explained below.

SunNight Solar was founded by Mark Bent, a former US Marine and Foreign Service officer, with more then twenty years experience residing in the developing world, having served in US Embassies and Consulates in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Tunisia and Angola. He also participated in peace keeping operations in Mogadishu, Iraq, Bosnia during the NATO intervention and elsewhere.

SunNight Solar has a rather unique business plan – you buy one light for yourself; and a second light is given away – their BoGo – or Buy one/Give one program. In this scenario, one light is purchased for use here in the US for $25.00, plus shipping charges from the warehouse in Houston, and for this same cost – no more, a second identical light is delivered to a developing country to a non-profit organization. And the non-profit receives $1.00 per light to assist in distribution within the country. Compare this cost to a ‘regular’ flashlight – with battery replacement after fifteen hours of use – the savings are quite impressive as the SunNight BoGo light lasts for 750 to 1000 cycles prior to battery replacement (two to three years), and the batteries are off the shelf rechargeable double AA batteries, either NiCad or NiMH. The photovoltaic or solar panels last for twenty years and the LEDs or light emitting diodes, will work for 75,000 to 100,000 hours. And SunNight Solar is working with Maersk shipping lines to remove the old batteries from Africa and elsewhere for recycling in the developed world.

The non-profits and international groups partnering with SunNight Solar in distributing the lights in the developing world include the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Samaritan’s Purse, Save the Children, Direct Relief International, Feed The Children, Africa Inland Missions, Awty International School here in Houston, Invisible Children, Alfalit International and others.

The ExxonMobil Foundation also recently purchased 7500 BoGo lights for distribution via Save the Children and Africare in Angola, where school children and their families will receive the lights. This follows a previous ExxonMobil distribution of lights to park rangers in Angola whose mission is to protect endangered species, including the Black Sable.

The European oil exploration firm Perenco is also buying lights for distribution in their world wide subsidiaries, with 500 lights recently distributed in Congo, Brazzaville. A number of other Houston based oil exploration and production firms are discussing purchase and distribution as part of their community service projects.

The BoGo program supports the US military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the ability to direct the ‘give’ lights to either location for distribution to soldiers, marines and air force personnel. SunNight Solar is in the process of shipping 500 lights, split between the two locations, for distribution as part of their corporate give away program, where ten percent of sales are distributed to locations and individuals who might not otherwise have easy access to light at night.

In another unique effort to draw attention to this problem, and the solution, SunNight Solar will shortly commence a ‘traveling BoGo program’ where 2500 lights will be tagged with a small laminated card explaining the problem, numbered and then distributed across the country. Rice student volunteers have created a computer program where the path of the lights can be tracked and different people, as the lights are passed from friend to friend, can upload comments and view the comments of others.

SunNight Solar was started in 2005 and is a LLC registered in Texas. Initial design and engineering work was provide free of charge by the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program, which is supported in part by NASA. Other science and design assistance has been provided by the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Department of Energy laboratories. Rice University, via the Rice Alliance Program, selected SunNight Solar as one of the most promising Energy Technology Firms in Texas in 2006.

SunNight Solar received 10,000 lights in late January and has another 10,000 enroute to Houston with an arrival in mid-February. They can produce 50,000 monthly and can increase production as required above this level – with two billion potential customers in the developing world, armed forces personnel deployed to two war zones and the utility of this light for emergency use, camping and other outdoor activity in the US – there appears to be a bright and shining future for this Texas firm. On the web at www.bogolight.com and their offices are located at 1720 Bissonnet Street.

For further reading:
http://www.ifc.org/led
http://eetd.lbl.gov/emills/PUBS/Fuel_Ba ... hting.html
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Arc ... hting.html http://eetd.lbl.gov/emills/PUBS/Specter.html

Contact SunNight Solar Enterprises - Mark Bent
markbent@sunnightsolar.com 713-408-2485