Global lighting solutions and appliance manufacturer Philips has come to the end of its month-long Cairo to Cape Town tour, which focused on improving Africa’s access to solar lighting, a form of lighting that can provide benefits for communities far from the national electricity grid.

“It’s crazy that the oil industry provides lighting – in the form of paraffin, which is dangerous and expensive – for Africa,” says Philips communications manager Nick Kelso. He adds that this is something that Philips hopes to change with its solar solutions.

The Philips team visited Cairo, Nairobi, Kampala, Jinja, Kigali, Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Kande, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Gaborone, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town on its tour. Some 560-million Africans do not have access to effective lighting.

“This darkness holds countries back socially and economically,” says Philips.

The company was promoting its new array of solar lights, which include a small light-emitting diode (LED) reading light, as well as solar lanterns and a fixed home lighting solution.

Kelso explains that, in rural communities that are more than 3,2 km from the electricity grid, connecting to the grid is more expensive than investing in solar photovoltaic solutions, which makes solar more feasible.

Philips says that it will target the education sector in Africa with its solar-powered reading light, which will allow people to read books, write and do homework in the dark, and will be available on the market from August.

The reading light provides LED lighting, which is evenly distributed along a small cover. It is lightweight and can be held or placed over the page of a book. It runs on a standard, rechargeable AAA battery, which provides about four hours of light after charging in the sun. The solar charger is separate from the light, which means that it can be kept safely out of the way, while recharging takes place.

The company also showcased its mini floodlighting solution, and hosted a five-a-side soccer game in Johannesburg, with eight LED floodlights suspended from portable poles providing the lighting.

This solution has been designed for areas with limited or no access to electricity. Power comes from solar-powered batteries, and will light an area of 30 m to 40 m in length and 15 m to 20 m wide.

The batteries can provide up to eight hours of light after a single charge in the sun, and the light levels are enough to comfortably play football and see the difference in shirt colours.

The floodlight system is being offered by Philips as a complete turnkey project solution, tailored to each customer’s requirements, and includes everything from the total system design to the floodlights, masts, batteries and solar panels.

Philips does not manufacture the solar panels, but has teamed up with manufacturers, and can also provide solar streetlighting project solutions.

All Philips’ solar solutions are teamed up with LED solutions, and Philips predicts that there will be a 75% penetration into the global lighting market by 2020. The light output from LEDs was an issue in the past, although this is rapidly changing.

Philips has also announced its new 60-W LED light bulb, which is marketed as an incandescent light bulb replacement, giving consumers a choice beyond energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps.

Philips says the new LED bulbs could save as much as 80% of the energy used by older technologies. It will be launched towards the end of 2010.

The company also showcased its new energy efficient temperature regulating kettle and energy- saving steam iron. “These appliances benefit from new Philips technology, allowing them to work at the same capacity as regular ones, but by either using less energy, or incorporating features enabling users to save energy themselves,” notes Philips.

The EnergyCare steam iron stops producing steam when the iron is lifted from the garment, enabling energy savings of 20% for every ironing session, without compromising on the end results.

The energy efficient kettle allows a user to control the temperature at which water is heated, with options of 40 ºC, 60 ºC, 80 ºC and 100 ºC, which can result in an energy saving of 25% on the household kettle.

Philips consumer lifestyle senior marketing manager Sally-Ann Green notes that the prices of these energy saving products will be in line with similar traditional products.

Philips research has found that customers are not willing to pay more for ‘green products’ but are happy to make the switch if the pricing is in line with that of traditional products.