Little Sun

I have just recently heard about this project, although it is already 10 years old and has impacted over 4,6 Mio people by their solar solution.
Little Sun is small lamp which has a solar panel in the back to charge the device during the day to deliver light at night time.

Artist and Co-Founder Olafur Eliasson speaks about “the right to have access to light” and wants to improve the life quality of over 1.1 billion people who have currently no access to energy. By providing off-grid areas with this rechargeable light, the organisation allows businesses to stay open in the evening and foster education as children can study at night.

The way this social business achieves this is to sell the lamp at a high price in countries with energy access (in museums shops and online) which will then allow them to sell the little sun in other areas for a much smaller price, affordable for the local people. The money not being spent on kerosine will now be spent on something else, going back into the local economy and not to the oil industry.

It is important to talk about the climate in a language that is not always about doom and gloom. It is very important to design things that have a positive narrative. — Olafur Eliasson

For me this is a very playful approach to tackle a problem. It brings lightness into the process of making a change. The Little Sun feels naive & careless and annoys a part of me which likes efficiency. I believe it is this optimistically, childish way of doing something with big importance causing me to be inspired. It feels refreshing! And although I am sure that they have put a lot of thoughts into that, it seems spontaneous and free.

Source:

Littel sun: https://littlesun.org/

Olafur Eliasson: Abstract — The Art of Design, Netflix (2017)

Little sun generell Infopack (PR kit): https://littlesun.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Little-Sun_General_Infopack_EN.pdf