Close to 1.3 billion people around the world do not have access
to electricity, most of them living in rural areas in South Asia,
Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Many families in these
regions rely on kerosene lamps to have light during the night
hours. These lamps are very energy inefficient, provide low quality
light, reduce indoor air quality causing negative health effects, are
not very safe and have a relatively high cost for the added value
they provide. Furthermore, kerosene lamps emit annually more
than 200 MT of CO2 worldwide.
Kerosene prices are volatile and differ very much from one
region to the other. Some countries subsidy kerosene to limit its