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greentechZONE Products for the week of March 9, 2009
SunNight Solar…
Dual-Use Solar Lighting Technology Plays Well in Both Developing and Developed Economies
What would consumer products look like if we actually factored in the environmental costs involved with their manufacture and operation? Major companies like Dell, Cisco, Philips and Sharp are all wrestling with these concepts as they try to design so-called green electronics but they still might be able to learn a thing or two from SunNight Solar’s ultra-rugged solar flashlight. While the SunLight SL-2 is not exceptionally green in terms of the materials used to make it, its 20+ year lifetime means that for every one of these units sold there will be over a dozen fewer short-lived regular flashlights (and hundreds of less batteries) cluttering a landfill. But just as important as its environmental aspects is the business model behind this product. In trying to solve a pressing problem for some of the world’s most desperately poor, SunNight may have also hit upon a new business paradigm that could help drag the moribund tech sector out of its present economic implosion.
Originally developed to help light refugee camps and replace dangerous, expensive kerosene lamps in African homes, it is a hot seller throughout the continent. Meanwhile, the same rugged construction, moderate cost and 5000+ hour operating life that make the SunLight so useful on the plains of the Serengeti are earning it a loyal following among American outdoorsmen and eco-consumers.
 The SL-2 incorporates an amazing number of clever features into its deceptively simple-looking design. It has two separate HBLED arrays which allow the user to select either a narrow-beam task light that works like a standard hand torch, or a wide, diffuse beam that can illuminate a table top or a portion of a room. Either array can be run in a high, medium, or low output mode. Its rugged ABS case has a carbineer-style clip molded into its butt end that allows it to be suspended for use as a table lamp or to be secured onto a backpack. Its half-watt polycrystalline solar cell charges three standard AA Ni-MH batteries through a charge controller that starts working at about 6% full sun strength and provides overcharge protection. Since the flashlight is designed for service in extremely hot climates, the battery compartment is designed to reduce thermal degradation by providing air flow around each cell. When the batteries reach the end of their 500 cycle lifetime, they can be quickly replaced using nothing more than a small coin.
Rather than use inexpensive current-limiting resistors to control the current flowing into the LEDs, SunNight’s designers have opted for an efficient switch-mode boost regulator. While it costs about $0.35 more to include, the boost regulator assures constant light output regardless of the batteries’ voltage which decline as they discharge. Besides allowing the SL-2 to extract more light from a single charge, the boost regulator’s soft start characteristics and precise current control protects the delicate LED junctions from damage and ensures a long service life.
The programmable constant-current supply also enables efficient operation in all three power settings. When used in its full power mode, the SL-2 delivers 30+ minutes of lighting per hour of the full sunshine it has seen. On medium power, users get about 1 hour of operation per sunshine hour. The low power setting provides about 2 hours operation per sunshine hour. Replacing the factory-supplied 800 mA-hr batteries with higher-capacity units will extend run time but it will take more than a single day to charge them from the integral solar panel. Users even have the option of charging the flashlight from a mains-powered charger – if such a luxury happens to be available.
When I interviewed SunNight CEO Mark Bent at the CES Greener Gadgets conference in New York, he explained that he built his company on a business model that runs counter to the trickle-down philosophy that dominates the tech sector today. Instead of trying to develop a sexier version of this year’s consumer gadget and sell it to the same 500 - 750 million potential customers in first-tier economies, Bent turned his attention to satisfying the real needs of the other six billion people with whom we share the Planet.
As a 14-year veteran of the US State Department, Bent used the experience with African economies and cultures to identify potential markets. Eventually he came up with the need for a rugged, reliable, solar-powered light that would be less expensive to run and less dangerous than the kerosene lanterns that still light an estimated 2 billion homes throughout the world. Using the much of the continent as his focus group, he put prototypes in the hands of farmers, herders, and relief workers to see how they were used – and how they broke. As a result of the lessons he learned, the production model flashlight includes a sturdy clip hook that allows it to be hung over a table or on a tent pole, a second set of wide-angle LEDs that provide area lighting, and easily-replaceable, commonly-available Ni-MH AA batteries for energy storage.
Tapping into the collective wisdom of his customers yielded a rugged, handsome product that’s as appealing to affluent first-worlders as it is to Nigerian goat-herders. In fact, 40% of SunNight’s $1M+ 2007 sales came from North America. Bent says he could have sold many more SunLights last year but he was limited by the capacity of the Chinese factory that was assembling the lights for him. He spent much of 2008 correcting the supply problem but eventually found three factories which could meet his quality standards. Plans are also underway to bring some of the production to Houston, TX, where American workers will perform final assembly and packaging on units bound for domestic consumption. “We’re an American company and it’s only fair we create some American jobs,” said Bent.
With production headaches eased, SunNight has turned its attention to expanding its sales. The current customer mix has 30% of the solar flashlights going for retail or wholesale in Africa, with another 30% being distributed by relief organizations and other NGOs. With orders already in the works for over a hundred thousand units to national police forces and social service agencies, CEO Bent looks forward to a very busy and profitable year – even before he gets to work fulfilling the orders for his latest customer, Target. Negotiations are also underway with Cabella’s and several other large outdoor gear retailers. “My goal is to beat the billions that companies like Energizer and Ray-o-Vac make with their disposable products. With the average service life of one of their products at around 15 hours, it’s a no-brainer to buy my light that goes 500 - 1000 hours before you even need to think about replacing the rechargeable batteries.”
But regardless of how well SunNight does commercially, some of its return-on-investment will not be measured in dollars but in the lives it changes. Tens of thousands of students can now use borrowed sunshine to complete their schoolwork after their evening chores without breathing the carcinogenic fumes of a dim kerosene lamp. Families can now light their homes without spending up to a third of their monthly income on fuel. Bent notes that that one of his customers said that the biggest impact the light had made in his life was the many baby goat lives that were saved during their births – often happening at night. By allowing him to quickly reach and help mothers experiencing birthing difficulties, he figured that the light had given dozens more milk- and meat-producing goats for his family, a change that meant the difference between eking out an existence on the edge of poverty and having the small surplus he’d need to give his children proper nutrition, medical attention, and a chance to complete school.
“It’s kind of tough to put that kind of return on investment into numbers for your business plan” says Bent, “but it’s certainly one of the things that helps me get excited about getting up in the morning.”
The SunLight SL-2 is available now from directly from SunNight and several major retailers, including Target. Its retail price is $39, with substantial discounts for wholesale orders from distributors, government agencies and NGOs.
Ordering Information
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