Liter of Light

Today, thirteen million Filipinos still live in darkness, out of nearly one billion people around the world. To afford any kind of light, people are forced to divert money that would normally go to essentials such as education, nutrition, and other basic needs. While the cost of solar power has decreased, most solutions still neglect local development realities. They continue to use top-down approaches that import consumer models, with up to 70 percent of total costs going to logistics, and without turning over skills or ways to repair the technology.

Magnifying this problem, many of these communities are set up in areas that are especially vulnerable to natural disasters - volcanoes, floods, and typhoons. With the effects of climate change becoming more severe, it is no longer a question of if the next disaster will hit, but when. A clear example of this occurred in November 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan, the first Category 5 storm to ever make landfall, hit the Visayas region. With wind gusts of up to 350kph, and storm surges that these coastal communities were not prepared for, tens of thousands perished and hundreds of thousands were left without access to food, water, shelter, and light.

After the typhoon, communication and transportation networks were down, access into the city was blocked, and communities became even more isolated from assistance. Children, the elderly, and women - among the most vulnerable groups of the population - found themselves more susceptible to crime, security, and trafficking issues, in addition to other post-disaster risks.

Our community-built solar-torch lights, -street lights, and -mobile charging systems create green jobs, teach valuable livelihood skills, and empower climate-vulnerable communities.

We began Liter of Light’s hand-built solar lighting projects right after SuperTyphoon Haiyan. We were one of the first organizations on the ground, one month after the storm hit. When we arrived, we were told that more than a million displaced people lacked electricity. We knew that access to lighting would be crucial to safety and reconstruction efforts. We also knew that many communities would be looking for ways to rebuild their livelihoods in the wake of the disaster. 

We built thousands of kerosene solar lamp conversions using locally found electronic parts; and easily replicable home- and simple street-lighting systems critical to create safe environments in the disaster-affected areas.

Micro solar panels, assembled by hand, give jobs, while other electronic parts, which are sourced locally, are assembled by women’s cooperatives. With a simple circuit built using just a screwdriver, the lights can be built and installed on the same day, making deployment in energy-poor or disaster areas quicker.

In a time of darkness, we brought hope to 7,000 homes in Palo, Leyte, teaching hundreds of survivors to build these simple solar devices. By teaching the local community how to build their own solar lights, and street lights, we were able to light up the pathways that they would use to search for loved ones, claim relief goods, and provide safe passage against the crime, theft, and violence that ensued just after the storm.

By empowering local communities and supporting the infrastructure required for them to build and maintain the lights, we help people living on the front lines of the climate crisis to leapfrog the transition to clean energy while giving them a new livelihood. Livelihoods that are able to withstand and adapt to disaster risks have become critical as climate change affects more diverse communities more frequently.

Our work had a profound impact on women. As the touchstones for their families in the home, the burden of no access to reliable, safe, and affordable electricity falls disproportionately on them. By deploying our hand-built, hyper-locally produced solar lights in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, our "corridors of light" eased safe movement and reduced the incidence of crime and transportation risks by up to 70%.

What began as a disaster-response initiative would transform into our signature program. 

Our main model focuses on training women cooperatives to eliminate dirty, expensive carbon-based fuels and shift to cleaner energy sources from which they can earn. Rather than providing financial capital, we seed them the materials and tools required to build their lights. Upon completing their training, they can sell what they produce, including a suggested 20% fee which they can use to pay off the initial investment. By building resilience through hyperlocal production, easily repairable technologies, and new skill building models, we help communities leapfrog the transition to clean energy while teaching them a new livelihood.

We integrated womens’ cooperatives early-on. By empowering women with this livelihood, they invest their savings in things that contribute back to their families and to the community, like health, education, and home improvements. Our core group of solar technicians is comprised of women in correctional facilities who were previously restricted from employment opportunities, and who now have a new means of livelihood. Our work also benefits partners from our volunteer engagement programs: youth groups, companies, and professional associations who lend their time and talent to build solar lights for these communities.

We focus on transferring knowledge and skills so that local communities can sustain their lights after we leave. We build our products using parts that can be found locally. If a part breaks or needs to be replaced, they know how to source the parts needed. We've built a cadre of solar engineers with technical skills to solve energy poverty in their community while ensuring that they earn at every step. These cooperatives have become micro-entrepreneurs and trainers helping to teach others, enabling us to expand without the high costs associated with a more centralized structure. In our experience, the number of lighting solutions replicated is 6-10 times the number of those initially given.

By making this an open-source technology and sharing information on social media and training workshops, we were able to expand programs to 15 countries, empower over 500,000 people around the world, and help reduce carbon emissions through our bottom up approach.

In 2020, we realized that we could expand our impact by encouraging even more people to participate in our work, even from the safety of home.We launched the “Light It Forward” Challenge during the COVID19 pandemic. The Challenge equips thousands of people to take action on UN SDG7 by assembling hand-built solar lights. To highlight the power of collective action, we take the lights built and create massive solar art installations, proving that solutions can come from anyone, anywhere.

We empower local communities to be part of the solution and not just left in the dark. At each step of the process, we engage them through community consultation and partnerships.

Traditional forms of logistics will remain central to humanitarian response, but local production techniques can improve efficiency and reduce costs, while better engaging people and building local capacity. Most current models miss out on the local population's contribution to creating green jobs. 

Our solar products are built and assembled at about 1/3 of the cost of other products on the market, including about 20% which is retained as a livelihood. The output produced is given to the village. Most importantly, we transfer knowledge so that the community can maintain and repair their units once our team leaves. 

Each of our hand-built solar lamps reduces carbon emissions by 1000 kg by replacing traditional forms of lighting, in particular kerosene, which burns 200 kg of carbon a year.

Being accepted as a SOLVER would allow us to become a stronger partner for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, develop relationships with and experience the projects of other SOLVERs, and connect with partner institutions whose ideas and innovations are critical to connecting climate adaptation efforts across the world.

As our work in disaster resilience enters its next decade, climate change poses an existential threat to the Philippines’ survival. We want to build up an encyclopedia of appropriate designs to prepare our communities for the next calamity. Additionally, less than 1% of funds are invested on climate documentation. We want to be able to teach youth about the challenges we face by strengthening our storytelling, not as victims but as innovators who inspire action. 

We currently have a feature-length documentary film on our work in production. At a time when climate anxiety, especially among young people, is at an all time high, our story shows that small is powerful, and that each of us can be the climate heroes we’ve been waiting for, no matter where we come from. 

We want to connect with experts and leaders who can help us to expand the scope of the current draft film to focus on our global impact and relevance. Becoming a SOLVER would give us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop relationships with other awardees and connect with partner institutions whose ideas and guidance are critical to our continued growth and success.

The climate narrative is often one sided, with those of us immediately affected by crisis on one hand, and those with access to platforms to speak and act on the other.

In a world of over seven billion people, almost 75% of people not speak English. Many sit on the front lines of climate change, but lack access to the platforms to share their messages with world leaders who can make a measurable difference on climate action. 

Our participative programs amplify voices from the most climate vulnerable countries. We empowered thousands of people to make an impact on SDG7, even during the COVID19 pandemic, through our hand-built solar light building campaigns and large-scale climate art installations.

From a country that has historically been a victim of circumstance, our grassroots movement’s mission is to inspire action on the climate crisis using the power of art and innovation.

Our work started after Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest Category 5 storm to ever make landfall, hit the Philippines in 2013. Within a month, we empowered survivors to build solar-powered street lights, flash lights, and mobile charging systems that reduced the incidence of crime by up to 70% in the months after the storm. They built the lights using PVC pipes, plastic bottles, and other readily available materials, and assembled the circuits by hand.

We knew that this community-based model worked. Instead of patenting it, we shared how to replicate it through digital media. That helped us scale to over 400,000 homes, led by young people who believe in the power of each of us to make a difference. 

Since 2013, we’ve empowered half a million people a year in countries including Brazil, Bangladesh, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Malaysia, and Senegal. 

We launched the “Light It Forward” Challenge during another dark time: the COVID19 pandemic. Our current campaign equips thousands of people to take action on SDG7 by assembling hand-built solar lights.

We highlight the power of collective action by teaching communities to build solar lights and create massive solar art installations to show that solutions can come from anyone, anywhere.

We are spearheading a large-scale action to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), in November 2023.

We want to build the largest hand-built solar message for the planet using 10,000 lights assembled by hand through a Net Zero campaign before distributing to energy poor and vulnerable communities.

We will invite schools, companies, and local leaders to share their messages of hope for the planet, which we will make into large-scale climate art installations in culturally and historically significant locations around the country.

By engaging thousands of youth, world leaders, and environmental luminaries to build solar lights that we design into solar art installations, we want to share messages of hope for the planet with the unique landscape of the Philippines in order to amplify the voices calling for a more sustainable future.

After the installations, the lights are distributed to villages in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the three main regions of the country.

In terms of our medium term goals, working with existing women's cooperatives and communities in Africa and South America, we want to build and scale up locally decentralized wifi systems through Local Area Network (LAN) connections. Now with a community based stable energy supply, we embedded in our existing street light technologies, these LAN "e-libraries" will enable people to access messaging, basic information, and educational materials, even after natural disasters or conflicts. We are in currently testing the hardware and software.

Our key milestones for this phase of our program are:

Year 1: complete hardware and software testing and pilot training and installation

Year 2: examine results of user experience with LAN repeater system, training and deployment

Year 3: Assessment of quality of life improvements and new livelihood opportunities

By converting or adopting solar solutions as their primary means of lighting, the households that we work with are able to save up to US $3 (PHP 164.01) per day on their electricity bills per month. With this extra discretionary income, they are able to invest in things that contribute to their families’ improved income and well-being, such as nutrition, health, education, and agricultural or infrastructure improvements. Ensuring more reliable access to energy will expand these household’s productivity, whether that means the ability to complete chores, schoolwork, or conducting business; and prevent carbon-based fuel diseases like asthma and respiratory infection.

To date, “Light It Forward” has galvanized over 5,000 Filipinos, including 500 government officials, and over 120 celebrities, influencers, and artists, with an estimated total fan base of 30 million supporters to participate. More importantly, we've empowered almost 100,0000 individuals with these hand built solar lights. We also mobilized thousands of youth across Italy, Scotland, and the UAE to join the Challenge and raise awareness on the need for urgent climate action at COP26, COP27, and the upcoming COP28. 

Among the other indicators that we use to measure our results and impact are:

# of local community members trained: 25 per community

Return and exchange < overall output: < 10% of overall output

National daily standard income for solar engineers: at least US $5/day (net)

Savings in electricity bills (in PHP) after training and employment: P1000 per month

# of women employed/trained (or the ratio of men to women trained): 60/40

Carbon emissions reduction: Each of our hand-built solar lights reduces carbon emissions by 1000 kg over five years by replacing kerosene with clean, renewable energy.

This is based on WWF Philippines’ calculation of the carbon restricted emissions for incandescent bulbs (ours emit the same luminescence)

• Carbon footprint: manufacture of one incandescent bulb = 0.45 kg CO2.
• Electricity consumption: approximately 0.77 kg CO2 per kW·h. A 50W bulb that runs for 14 hours a day for 30 days releases 16.17 kg CO2 a month, nearly 200 kg yearly
• Approximately 90% of the power consumed by incandescent bulbs is emitted as heat, not visible light

Inputs: 

Staffing and Personnel

Travel within Philippines to beneficiary communities for ocular inspection, training and community engagement, and monitoring

Materials for building solar lights, including for maintenance and tools

Documentation crew

Admin expenses including shipping, printing, mailing

Actions (activities): 

Coordinate with training partners and beneficiary communities

Schedule training workshops

Conduct “train the trainers” workshop with cooperative partners

Prepare workshop and lighting materials

Conduct training workshops and installation with beneficiary communities

Develop reports on usage, troubleshooting, and benefits (monitoring and evaluation)

Actions (measurements):

# of lights installed (solar reading lamps, mobile charging systems, street lights)

# of local community members trained

Return and exchange of units < overall output

# of women trained / ratio of men to women trained

# kilos of carbon offset by replacing kerosene/biofuels with clean solar lighting

Results

At least 1075 solar lighting solutions deployed across Wawa Dam beneficiary communities (1000 solar reading lamps, 25 mobile charging systems, 50 street lights)

25 local members per community trained

Return & exchange is less than 10% of overall output

Ratio of women to men trained is 60/40

Impact (short):

Significant savings in income (around US $20) from cost of buying expensive kerosene or other forms of lighting that can be used for other expenses, including education (books), health needs, or home maintenance or repairs

Improved health outcomes from replacing use of kerosene or candles inside the home

Improved educational outcomes from being able to study at night

New skills developed through receiving solar lighting training

Impact (long):

Incidence of crime, violence, and theft decrease by up to 70>#/p###

New livelihood and income generating opportunities through solar lighting

Improved income as a result of lit pathways (for farmers and fishermen to get their produce to market)

1000 kg of carbon emission reduced per lamp installed (200 kg a year over 5 years, which is the initial lifespan of our technologies - after 5 years, the battery will be replaced)

Liter of Light is a grassroots movement that is based on community engagement and local ownership. Several individuals have contributed to making locally-sourced, repairable, and sustainable lighting possible for the marginalized sector of society, including in-house technical experts and experts in both renewable energy and appropriate technologies. Our technologies and delivery system are improved over time through collaboration with organizations who are aligned with our advocacy.

Solar House Light - ~72Wh Lithium-Ion battery pack, 10 Watt – 12V solar panel, 10 Watt – 12V LED bulb, with 12V automotive USB charger.

Solar Street Light - ~72Wh Lithium-Ion battery pack, 10 Watt – 12V solar panel, Watt – 12V LED bulb

Solar Pipe Light – 10Wh LiFePO4 cell, 2~4 Watt – 5V Solar Panel, 3 Watt – 3V LED bulb

The solar house light and street lights share the same electrical circuit, the former having an additional 12V USB charger. These lights are installed in a fixed location, intended to illuminate a wide, common area.

Solar pipe lights can be viewed as a trimmed-down version of the larger models. This model is small, mobile, and can be unplugged from the solar panel enabling it to be used as a flashlight.

The lighting solutions are self-contained. The houselight is able to support USB-powered devices that use 5V up to 2A.

Liter of Light is governed by South-South principles such as local ownership and leadership, access to raw materials, and technology transfer.

We focus on transferring knowledge and skills so that local communities can sustain their lights after we leave. We build our products using parts that can be found locally. If a part breaks or needs to be replaced, they know how to source the parts needed. We've built a cadre of solar engineers with technical skills to solve energy poverty in their community while ensuring that they earn at every step.

Our core group of solar technicians is comprised of women in correctional facilities who were previously restricted from employment opportunities. Our work also benefits partners from our volunteer engagement programs: youth groups, companies, and professional associations who lend their time and talent to build solar lights for these communities.

Our primary business model in the community is training a cooperative group of five women on how to build our technologies. Our approach is inspired by other proven sustainable business models like the Grameen banking model. Rather than providing them with financial capital, we seed them the materials and tools required to build their lights. Upon completing their training, the women are able to sell what they produce the solar reading lanterns, including a suggested 20% retainer fee which they keep for when which they use to pay off the initial capital investment. A competing product with the same specific components with finished manufacture would cost almost three times the cost. The other complementary business model would be for one store to have a central 50- or 100-watt panel that will be a central recharging station where the store owner can recharge the solar lamps for a fee.

We make most of our revenue through corporate partnerships wherein companies will pay for training and community engagement with our beneficiary communities. They pay for the training, seed materials, as well as the manpower for the trainings; and community engagement days. For each engagement, we make back between 20% to 30% after our operating costs.

We acquire customers by working directly with our corporate partners, volunteers, and network of technical schools across the country to identify the communities that do not have access to electricity. These are our initial customers. As we develop relationships with them, we have begun to create or innovate our solutions to see how we can continue to serve them in more ways.

We have already proven our concept and scaled our community-built solar lighting solutions - home lights, mobile charging systems, and street lights - to over 350,000 homes in the Philippines. We know there is a market for our existing solutions. We now want to use this opportunity to find out how to scale new innovations that enable villages outside of big cities to access new means of livelihood through access to light, information, and messaging services.

We raise about USD $150,000 annually to maintain our existing operations which are currently funded by corporate workshops in assembling solar lights similar to the model of Habitat for Humanity. We have received funding from the U.S. Embassy in Manila, as well as from corporate partners like AirAsia Philippines, S&P Global, Getz Pharma, Ikea, Inspiro, ING, Lazada, MDRT Foundation and Novo Nordisk. 

Through our Light It Forward challenge, we were also able to secure partnerships with large-scale service organizations like Rotary International; and government institutions like the Bangkok Sentral Ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines).