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THRIVE is founded by a group of professionals to work for the benefits of rural and tribal communities in Home Lighting, ICT, Education and Health using advanced and innovative technologies |
Contact
Information Resource Center: Mobile: +91 9866305772 Hyderabad: 040 32901212 info@thrive.in |
Welcome to
Get answers for all your queries regarding LED lighting technology, THRIVE's LED Lighting Programme, Pricing Information, benefit to end users, environment, and other socio-economic benefits of our programme in this section. Please click on the links below to get answers:
1. How does the product benefit the environment? The LED Home Light is an efficient, reliable and long lasting light which will eliminate the need to use environmentally polluting and dangerous kerosene for lighting.
2. How does the LED product far outshine current sources of lighting in rural areas? Existing lighting in rural areas is either grid powered, if available, or kerosene, with a government subsidy. The first method is unreliable and suffers breakdowns, failing most often in the rainy season when needed most, as well as being expensive to install and maintain. Kerosene lighting is not just polluting; it produces low quality illumination and may cause health problems. Kerosene is often difficult to procure.
3. Are these LED Home Lights actually being used today? Yes, in Koraput, Orissa with nearly 8,000 lights, in Afghanistan with 8,500 lights and in Malghat, Maharashtra, Paderu, Visakhapatnam, Ranchi, and Jharkhand as well. They are also being used in Kenya and Cambodia. All these projects have been successfully completed and the LED Home Lights have been working very well for some time.
The kerosene subsidy is approximately Rs 75 a month (Rs 900 a year) for each family, for 3 liters of kerosene a month. With just one year’s kerosene subsidy we can supply a long lasting LED Home Light to each family and include charging the batteries for a year.
5. Explain the comparative characteristics of kerosene lamps, light bulbs and LED lights.
Lamps using
kerosene provide low quality illumination, are highly polluting
and dangerous, pose a health hazard and depend on a steady
supply of kerosene.
If the government provides 1 crore LED Home Lights, one to every needy family in a typical state, they will save roughly Rs 900 crores on kerosene subsidy a year. There will also be an economic improvement in productivity to the tune of at least Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 crores, as well as the social benefits to health and education in rural and tribal areas as the LED Home Light enables people to continue working and studying after the sun sets.
7. What is the maximum life of the battery, LED and other components? The working life of the LED Home light is approximately 10 to 15 years, while the LED itself can last for more than 30 years. Unlike light bulbs LEDs don’t give up toward the end of their life, but only reduce intensity by 10% - 20%, which may not even be noticeable for many applications. The battery life will normally be 2.5 - 3.5 years depending on the type and quality of the battery and how well they are maintained.
8. What guarantee is offered on the product in terms of lifetime, usage and durability? The LED Home Light will have a one year guarantee against any manufacturing defect and a further 3 years of limited guarantee* for certain parts. The battery will have a 1 year manufacturer’s guarantee.
Every single LED Home Light can generate approximately US $7 to US $10 worth of carbon credits a year in Gold* standards. This means that the capital cost of the light is recoverable in approximately 2 to 3 years. Applying for carbon credits will only be feasible for installations above 10,000 LED Lights, as the assessing and auditing costs to obtain the carbon credits will be not viable for fewer installations. *The Gold Standard Foundation offers a quality label to CDM/JI and voluntary offset projects, fetching premium prices. Renewable energy and energy efficiency projects with sustainable development benefits are eligible. The Gold Standard is endorsed by over 44 non-governmental organizations worldwide. Gold Standard projects are preferred by a range of government and private sectors.
10. How much power is required for a full charge of the LED lights? The LED Home Light uses about 15 watts of power for one complete charge which represents approximately 10 paise if the kilowatt price is Rs. 6.
11. What is the power saving difference between LED lights and light bulbs? THRIVE LED Home Lights consume about 0.6 watts and are nearly equal in luminance to a 25 watt incandescent light bulb or an 11 watt CFL lamp - with about 90% saving of energy.
12. Explain your implementation plan for the LED lighting scheme. For every 200 to 250 installed LED Home Lights we train an entrepreneur (women or man) who will collect a small fee (Rs10 for each charge a minimum of twice to a maximum of thrice a month, depending on the use) for charging the LED Home Lights, either through grid power or at a solar charging station where there is no grid power available. The village entrepreneur can earn a monthly income of Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000, based on the number of LED Home Lights he maintains and services.
13. How long does it take to fully charge the LED light? It takes about 4 to 6 hours to fully charge the battery of a LED Home Light.
14. What is the total usage time of the LED light battery charge? The LED Home Light will work for approximately 50 hrs with the setting on full power mode and around 300 hrs in bed light mode.
15. What is the maximum intensity and brightness attainable from this product? The LED Home Light will produce 85 lumens intensity in the full power mode.
There are very few specific products like the THRIVE LED Home Light developed to suit the target user’s specific needs. Those now on the market or being promoted are cheap Chinese made LED lights for general use. To our knowledge there are 2 or 3 competing products which are very high priced ($50 + range) and do not match the THRIVE LED Home Light specifications for working hours and luminance.
17.
How is this project going to help rural folk and provide better
living conditions for them?
18. How are local fishermen going to benefit from this scheme? The life of fishermen is very similar to that of rural folk and they will enjoy all the benefits of the LED Home Light, with the added advantage of providing a greatly improved light on their fishing boats; much more dependable, clean and safe than a kerosene lamp which will not work for long hours and involves the danger of catching fire or worse. Moreover the chance of a fishing trip and their livelihood being ruined when they run out of kerosene or the lamp fails due to strong winds is non-existent.
19. What are the disadvantages and hazards liable to the consumers from the product? No known dangers exist when using a LED light, but it is advisable not to look straight into the light source as it is very intense and looking at it directly for long periods could harm your eyes.
If a kerosene lamp is replaced by a LED Home Light it avoids one ton of carbon emissions in 3 years which is equal to US$ 30 in terms of carbon credits. Ten million or one crore LED Home Lights will save 10 million tons of carbon emissions or in dollar terms US$ 300 million!
21. Can you point out the long-term advantages of the proposed project? It will dramatically change the lifestyle and productivity in the rural areas particularly for women and the disabled. It will substantially improve the health and education of rural children besides reducing carbon emissions and the consequent environment damage.
22. Explain the emphasis on encouraging entrepreneurship among the local people in the rural areas. For every 100/150 lights one person gets full employment maintaining and charging the LED Home Lights and for every 1,000 lights one person gets full employment servicing the lights.
23. Provide approximate figures on the final costing of the LED lights per product and in bulk. The LED Home Light costs approximately US$ 20 in bulk or the equivalent in Euros. The cost will be adjusted if the rate of the dollar against the Indian Rupee changes.
24. Detail any taxes and additional costs which are separate from the product cost. Taxes are paid on the final product at the rate of US$ 8.
Up to 80% of the population of the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa and Northeast will benefit from the LED Home Lights and 30% of the population of the states of AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat will benefit.
Urban slum population in AP alone constitutes around 40 lakh people in large cities, requiring nearly 15 to 20 lakh lights.
27. What security measures are being practiced to safeguard the product from vandals and thieves? Measures like RF IDs or Bar-coding can be provided to safeguard the product with the details of the owner embedded, if necessary with some added cost.
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