+ Light Up The World Foundation

We’ve been talking a lot on The Greener Grass about the overconsumption of energy, electricity in particular. An important part of the discussion that we haven’t addressed so far is the parts of the world that have little or no access to electricity. We take for granted what it means to have electricity – access to heat and light (even after the sun goes down), convenient ways or storing and cooking food, communication with the outside world, and much more.

There are many great organizations aimed at providing assistance for people without electricity. One that stood out to us was the Light Up The World Foundation. They are a non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Calgary, that aims to provide light to people in developing countries that have little or no access to electricity. Light is a valuable resource, especially for the education of children. So far, the Light Up The World Foundation has lit up more than 14,000 homes in 42 different countries.



The existing method for lighting homes with no electricity is most commonly kerosene lamps. Although they are effective, kerosene lamps have a lot of issues. They are dangerous, unhealthy, pollution producing, and require on ongoing supply of kerosene gas which is expensive and not always easily accessible. Light Up The World’s solution is to provide basic LED lamps to replace the kerosene ones. LEDs provide very bright light with minimal energy input, so little in fact that they can be easily charged using small solar panels.

Watch this short video to learn more about how the Light Up The World Foundation started, and how they are lighting up the lives (and hearts) of people around the world.



Light Up The World Foundation Webiste: www.lutw.org