SLL Young Lighter 2020
March/April 2021
SOLAR RECYCLE SLL Young Lighter 2020, Aluwaine Manyonga outlines his award-winning paper on a sustainable solution to limited access to electricity in Africa
frica, the cradle of mankind, rich in many natural resources and with an annual solar irradiance of 260W/sqm, still suffers limited access to electricity. According to the World Bank in 2018, only 47.7 per cent of the population has access, with rural areas being the most affected with a deficit of 68.5 per cent. This means 600m people have no access to electricity. School pupils are particularly affected since one in every three primary
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school students goes to a school without any type of electricity, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in 2014. This limited accessibility has robbed students of one of the key benefits of electrification which is lighting, clearly essential to the education sector. To help rectify this situation, I would like to introduce the off-grid solar lighting system and Chigubhu Lantern concept. Combining
off-grid solar lighting with the reuse of both electronic and plastic waste forms the basis of the solution. I believe this could be an answer to Africa’s limited access to electricity and ensure that every student has access to high-quality and reliable lighting. As has become widely known, African school students are generally resorting to using fuel lamps and candles. Kerosene (paraffin) is the most popular fuel used and it has detrimental effects on health and the environment, and is costly for users. Kerosene lamps emit 270,000 tonnes of black carbon every year, contributing a major share to global warming. The health implications of these lamps include impaired lung function, asthma and cancer risks, and compromised visual health due to their low lumen output. Despite the low initial investment, these lamps have a higher maintenance cost which can account for 10 to 15 percent of
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