Abstract
Market spoiling stemming from information asymmetry has slowed the adoption grid-independent technologies that replace fuel-based lighting in the developing world. End users typically first experience lighting technology innovations via flashlights. The rapid emergence of inexpensive LED flashlights is a potentially good advancement in this regard, as LED lighting can be longer-lived, have higher initial light output, and be more energy-efficient than incandescent. However, our laboratory tests and end user interviews indicate that these products often fall far short of advertised performance levels and typically fail after a few months of use. Our study of purchasing decisions by 23 Kenyan market traders given an opportunity to purchase warrantied LED lamps found that prior experience with inexpensive LED flashlights significantly reduced their probability of purchasing (p = 0.0028). As additional evidence of consumer skepticism, in a large statistical survey, we also find that willingness to pay increases significantly once an LED lighting product is directly handled and tested by the end user. If LED lighting is to achieve its potential as a superior substitute for fuel-based lighting, effective policy measures are needed to remove the information asymmetry between expected and actual performance. One such measure, independent testing and certification, has measurably increased the quality of products available in the off-grid lighting marketplace.
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Notes
The local currency, Kenya Shillings (Ksh) exchanged at a rate of approximately 75:1 against the US Dollar in summer 2009. This is the exchange rate we use throughout this article, for consistency.
See http://www.lightingafrica.org/node/109966 for additional information about the Lighting Africa Outstanding Product Awards competition.
Initial research and work in developing some of these test procedures was conducted under the Lumina Project (Mills and Jacobson 2008; Granderson et al. 2008). Tests conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (FISE) for GTZ also provided an important foundation for the methods that were subsequently expanded and refined by FISE on behalf of Lighting Africa.
If the switch is in the “on” position when a rechargeable LED flashlight is plugged into the wall, a brief voltage spike can damage individual LEDs or the entire LED array (Mink et al. 2010).
Note that one consequence of the high sales volumes and short useful lifetimes is the generation of significant solid waste when failed LED flashlights are discarded. Additionally, rechargeable LED flashlights, which make up a substantial fraction of those sold, utilize sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries. Disposal of flashlights with SLA batteries produces considerable hazardous waste. In Kenya, the quantity of lead that enters the waste stream annually as the result of LED flashlight disposal is estimated to exceed 1,000 metric tons (Tracy 2010). Exposure to lead has been shown to cause a variety of adverse health effects including physical and mental development impediments in children, cerebral and kidney diseases, and cancer.
The LED lamps offered for sale in the study at the 700 KSh per unit price could be charged using grid electricity. The units could also be charged using solar power; the purchase price with the solar charging option was 1,500 KSh. All of those who chose to purchase bought the lower priced unit that allowed for grid-based charging only (Radecsky et al. 2008).
For example, see http://www.lightingafrica.org, http://light.lbl.gov, and http://www.cleanenergyministerial.org/SLED/index.html.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Lighting Africa program and The Rosenfeld Fund of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley, through the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
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Mills, E., Tracy, J.L., Alstone, P. et al. Low-cost LED flashlights and market spoiling in Kenya’s off-grid lighting market. Energy Efficiency 8, 323–337 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-014-9294-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-014-9294-2