Our Commitment to Sustainability
1. Zero Carbon emissions: All our systems are completely renewable producing no CO2 emissions
2. Net Carbon Zero: We will reduce any carbon credits arising from our products by the “best estimate” of the CO2 used in manufacturing; shipping and installing our products.
3. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI; GMSI). We are an equal opportunity employer. We undertake annual audits to ensure our practices and recruitment have no implicit or hidden biases against women or minorities. We have set up life-skills training classes to upskill people from disadvantaged groups so they can attend our agent training courses with confidence and suitable pre-qualification skills.
4. Environment – Plastic We have removed plastic bags and packaging from our products.
5. Recycling: We have end-of-life programmes in place to ensure recycling and/or safe disposal at end-of-life. Specifically all our Pb-acid batteries are either reconditioned for further use, or recycled in Tanzania. Recyclers have been identified for when our Li-FEPO4 batteries reach their end of life.
6. Health: We are developing a mosquito repellent system to provide some protection to our SHS clients from Malaria. These will be supplied with every SHS sold, together with free refills over the payment plan. We will not increase our prices to cover the costs of these systems.
7. Health: Our night fishing lights are optionally available with a SOLAS* approved lifebuoy as a float. We charge no more for the SOLAS* lifebuoy and attachment kit than for the local wooden floats and masts. Fishermen are 7 times more likely to drown than die from Malaria, TB and HIV-Aids combined. By turning their fishing light floats into lifesaving equipment means that such life-saving equipment is always carried in the boats.
*SOLAS – Saving Of Lives At Sea – an international organisation which sets minimum standards for life-saving equipment.
8. “Base of the (poverty) Pyramid – although SHS costs are falling, the minimum specification for an economically viable SHS is increasing, leaving this unaffordable for the poorest segments of society. Working with The Children of Songea – a charity supporting very disadvantaged children, we are developing a very low cost 2-light Solar Home Lighting System (SHLS – our Solar Seed), which can also recharge the Mosquito repellent systems above. We expect to sell this via NGO’s whose economic structures enable them to deploy such systems at lower cost than for-profit organisations. We pledge to take a smaller margin on this than on our main-line products.
