June 24, 2008 4:00 AM PDT
Barefoot Power of Melbourne, Australia, aims to provide solar-charged lighting for Papua New Guinea. Here, Barefoot's Firefly lamp is shown next to a kerosene-fueled flame. Barefoot sells lighting kits of 10 watts to 20 watts each that include compact fluorescent lamps. CFLs provide more light for the money spent than LEDs, explained co-founder Stewart Craine. Other companies shun CFLs because they contain mercury and don't last as long as LEDs.
Barefoot Power also builds mini electrical grids based on renewable energy for rural villages. It offers diesel- or coconut oil-powered dual-fuel generators.
"Access to watts improves living standards, but it will take access to kilowatts (to) end poverty," Craine wrote in an e-mail.
Photo by Barefoot Power
Caption by Elsa Wenzel
