d.light makes finalist at Zayed Future Energy Prize
d.light was a finalist in the 2012 Zayed Future Energy Prize, which was awarded on Jan. 17 at the World Future Energy Summit, currently happening in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
We are grateful that d.light continues to receive recognition for the work we are doing to provide clean, safe, reliable and affordable solar energy to the 2.6 billion people in the world who don’t have access to reliable electricity. We are honored to be on a list of amazing finalists that included Acumen Fund, one of d.light’s investors. Read more…
It’s not too late to ‘Give Light’ for the holidays
Our partner Kopernik, a non-profit organization connecting life-changing technologies to communities in need, has an idea for a holiday gift we can guarantee will not end up buried in a closet: a d.light S250. Kopernik is offering our flagship solar-powered lantern and mobile phone charger for a discounted holiday price. Please consider giving a gift of light to a family living without electricity.
Living off-grid can impede the economic progress of families because it forces them to depend on kerosene, which is expensive, harmful to health and can cause fatal fires. Please visit Kopernik’s website to learn more about this amazing opportunity to impact someone’s life this holiday season. The special discount price continues until December 31.
Forbes has just released a list of top 30 social entrepreneurs who are changing the world, and d.light co-founders Sam Goldman and Ned Tozun are among them! Forbes says the list known as the Impact 30 is the first of its kind in the magazine’s 94-year history.
“Unlike millions of us who recognize some kind of problem, feel a pang of hopelessness, and move on [the 30 entrepreneurs] shifted careers and set about fixing the problems they saw in the world,” the Forbes article says.
Read the Impact 30 list.
d.light co-founder Goldman is ‘Silicon Dragon Entrepreneur’
Sam Goldman with Silicon Dragon Entrepreneur Award sponsor Anson Bailey and Rebecca Fannin, the award organizer.
d.light co-founder and Chief Customer Officer Sam Goldman is the winner of this year’s Silicon Dragon Entrepreneur of Hong Kong Award.
The award recognizes “dynamic and passionate” entrepreneurs who have created innovative products or services in the technology sector or in related areas, and have brought their companies to leading positions in the industry. The entrepreneur’s company must be a startup or an emerging company that has achieved rapid growth for more than two consecutive years.
We, his colleagues at d.light, are pleased that Sam continues to be rewarded for the several years he has dedicated to finding safe and affordable lighting solutions for people living at the bottom of the wealth pyramid.
Help our partner Kopernik get d.light lanterns to people in need
Chase Community Giving is giving away $3 million in grants to 100 small local charities, and Kopernik – our partner NGO who distributes d.light solar lanterns to poor, bottom of the pyramid communities – needs our help to win. All you need to do is vote via Facebook.
Voting is easy, just follow these steps:
1. Click here or on the banner above and “Like” the Chase Community Giving App on the top left of your page.
2. Click the green “Vote and share” button for your vote to count towards Kopernik.
3. Encourage your friends and family to do the same.
Read more…
d.light featured in various media reports
In the past few weeks d.light’s efforts to bring light to millions of people around the world has received great visibility in the media.
Two of the stories featured the d.light S250, our flagship solar-powered lantern and mobile phone charger, which is currently on display in the British Museum as the 100th object in BBC Radio Four’s “A History of the World in 100 Objects.” Neil MacGregor, the museum’s curator, has written a book called “A History of the World in 100 Objects.” MacGregor appeared on NPR’s NewHour, and on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report to talk about his book. The d.light S250 was one of the objects the hosts interviewed MacGregor about. Read more…
Editor’s Note: Award-winning photographer Peter DiCampo has spent years working on a project called “Life Without Lights,” documenting the lives of people without electricity. To fund the next phase of the project DiCampo has turned to Kickstarter, the online funding platform. We are offering the d.light S250, our solar-powered lantern and mobile phone charger, as a thank you gift to contributors. Please join us to make this important project successful. In the following story, DiCampo talks about what inspired him to start “Life Without Lights.”
“Electricity is the steps that allow us to walk,” Khulaf Mohammed Qochakh told me.
Qochakh was an older man living in the town of Binika, in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. He was old enough to remember a time before conflict when Binika still had electricity.
That was half a lifetime ago. Read more…
Today, Marketplace, the business news radio program heard by more than 9 million listeners in the United States every week, carried a story about an increasing number of business school students enrolling in social entrepreneurship classes. The program gave d.light as an example of a social entrepreneurship that has succeeded in making social impact by developing “a line of safe and affordable substitutes” to kerosene.
Marketplace reporter Alex Goldmark interviewed d.light co-founder and President Ned Tozun.
Listen to the show here.
d.light at the Nigeria Alternative Energy Expo
- The d.light stand at the Nigeria Alternative Energy Expo 2011 in Abuja.
This week d.light participated in the Nigeria Alternative Energy Expo, in the country’s capital, Abuja. Almost 50 percent of Nigerians have no connection to the electricity grid, and according to a Lighting Africa report, of those who are connected, 95 percent suffer frequent power blackouts. This means Nigeria has approximately 76 million people using dangerous, environmentally harmful, and economically inefficient kerosene lanterns and diesel generators for their lighting needs.
This presents a tremendous need for alternative lighting solutions that can improve the quality of life for Nigerians, and it is why we are excited to participate at the Expo in Abuja this week. Here, we joined force with an impressive list of local and international delegates to discuss the opportunities and challenges in the Nigerian Power sector, and to spark ideas on how we can create new energy future for Africa’s biggest nation. Read more…
