News For LED: Indiegogo Projects Light the Way

Backers of several Indiegogo projects are bringing high-efficiency lighting to underserved communities in developed and developing countries

A channel for innovation

We have written extensively about small-scale, crowdfunded lighting projects aimed at the less affluent (see "Related posts" below). One of the most successful such projects, GravityLight, transforms three seconds of effort into nearly a half hour of light. The unit, equipped with basically a pulley, a light, and a bag for holding weights such as rocks or sand, costs $10. The project team already has development underway to halve the purchase price while improving efficiency.

Most rural lighting projects use solar panels as their power source and a battery to store energy. Light for Relief plans to send solar lights to the Philippines to help rebuild the communities decimated by Typhoon Haiyan. Light for Relief uses the lighting packages from New Vision Renewable Energy, which we'll discuss in a moment. As with other projects, however, funding can fall short of ambition. The team has $1,700, less than 2 percent of its $100,000 goal.

The Soulardarity Streetlight Campaign met its modest $6,540 goal to bring LED streetlights to Highland Park, Mich. Highland Park is a city within Detroit. As detailed on their Facebook page, the Soulardarity folks are seeking smaller amounts, typically under $10,000, using a number of crowdfunding channels. In the process, the series of fund-raisers builds community spirit in the middle of a dispirited city.

About crowdfunding

Indiegogo and Kickstarter have dominated the crowdfunding market and mind share, but they're not the only ones in the space. Forbes has assembled a list of the 10 most popular sites. Many regions have their own services, focusing on local initiatives. Some project teams have implemented their own.

Crowdfunding has reach a level of linguistic credibility. The Associated Press Stylebook will soon add crowdfunding (one word, lower case) to its word list.

Both Kickstarter and Indiegogo fund projects that include a specific deliverable, such as hardware or software product, a film series, and other creative endeavors. Indiegogo projects tend to include more personal projects. Indiegogo campaign owners can receive funding in euros while Kickstarter projects can be financed with New Zealand dollars. A difference is that Kickstarters get no funds unless the goal is met, whereas Indiegogoers net whatever they collect.

The 2012 JOBS Act included provisions that legitimized crowdfunding in the US, providing project creators and backers with some legal protections while preserving the flexibility of the financing model. In October, the US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules governing the sale of securities through crowdfunding.

Not all good ideas see the light of day

Most crowd-funded campaigns don't make it. They fall short of their funding goals; or they raise the money but can't deliver the product; or they deliver the product but can't sustain the operation.

The Verge estimates that fewer than 10 percent of Indiegogo projects reach their targets. (In spite of its professed openness, Indiegogo doesn't publish statistics about its projects.) More troubling still is that, according to The Verge's analysis, 80 percent of the projects fail to reach even a quarter of their goals.

By comparison, Kickstarter publishes statistics showing that 43.77 percent of its projects are funded successfully.

There are lots of reasons for a project's non-success. We can't say that a grammatical error blocked the effort of Providing LED Lights for Low Income Family's, but it probably didn't help.

Details lacking

For members of the All LED Lighting community, the projects on Indiegogo don't provide a lot of specifics about the lighting systems. The few that do so usually rely on manufacturers' data sheets.

The Light for Africa project uses the d.light S2 lamp. The manufacturer claims a lifespan of more than five years and warrants the product for two years. (At this writing, the project has raised $4,600 toward its $30,000 goal. Per the fund-raising agreement, the project team will keep the funds that are raised, even if the goal is not reached.)

New Vision Renewable Energy delivers a package of solar panels, battery, and "super bright" LED lights. The LEDs are rated by the unspecified manufacturer for a 30-year lifespan. As we've discussed often in this forum, projections regarding LED durability are just that -- projections. We've yet to see how well and how long these units perform in non-lab environments.

In spite of the inherent problems with crowdfunding, LED lighting projects are well matched with these schemes. The lighting systems scale well, from community-sized down to individual homes, powered by the traditional urban grid, or solar panels, or human muscle-power. These small projects can reach people in places that are beyond the view of government and large enterprise.

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