Optimising For The Biggest Social Impact: How We Measure Energy Transformation

You might be familiar with our founding story ; in it, we touched on how d.light has always been intentional about expanding energy access for people at the nether regions of the economic and social pyramid.

But, as a for-profit social enterprise with a clear purpose – providing bright, affordable solar light to the ?760 million people worldwide that still lack access to electricity – our mission is an ambitious one. So far, we’ve helped ?165 million people transition from non-renewable, ineffectual energy sources to powerful solar solutions … yes, the mission is afoot, but we still have a long way to go.

We recently wrote about the role our values play in keeping us anchored to our purpose, but an honest evaluation of the impact our solar lanterns, home systems, and portable chargers have is as important. On our journey to affecting real social impact , we rely on a rigorous data-driven approach to monitor several performance indicators. By tracking our progress and identifying areas for improvement, we can ensure that we are making the biggest possible difference in the lives of our customers.

That’s where the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association, or GOGLA, comes in. They act as the voice of the off-grid solar energy industry and their standardized metrics gauge energy access, income generation, CO? reduction and more. It enables companies like ours to measure the impact of our work. For solar products, our gains are calculated using GOGLA standardized impact metrics . For non-solar products or impact metrics not defined by GOGLA, we adapt the methodology. We use sales data, customer feedback, and ongoing product evaluation in the field to provide a comprehensive picture of how access to energy transforms the lives of our customers. Our impact metrics include:

1. Lives transformed

All d.light solar products are designed to transform the lives of our customers. We assume that even if a product has one primary user in a household, the entire home benefits in some way. We apply household size and discount factors defined in GOGLA’s methodology but count multiple transformations for one household. For example, if a family buys a solar lantern and later purchases a clean cook stove and a pay-go solar home system, we count the impact three separate times.

2. Carbon emissions reduced

We evaluate CO? offsets based on the GOGLA methodology for solar products and use third party carbon credit methodologies for products outside of this category (such as clean cook stoves).

In 2022, d.light solar products averted 1.3 million tons of CO? and black carbon emissions. This is the kind of validation that motivates us. Carbon emissions reduction since inception is an even more impressive number …

1. Renewable energy generated

GWh (Gigawatt hours) is the standard measurement used to calculate the amount of energy generated from the renewable sources we supply. This metric is applied to solar products and is calculated using the GOGLA methodology. At last measurement, d.light products had generated an estimated 485 GWh of renewable energy.

2. Savings made from energy-related expenses

This metric applies to solar products and is calculated using the GOGLA methodology. It measures the amount of money that our customers have saved on energy costs as a result of using our products.

3. Number of children reached with solar lighting

We calculate this based on the average number of school-aged children in households. This metric only applies to solar products we sell with a lighting component. It tracks the number of school-aged children who have access to solar lighting.

4. Productive hours created

This metric applies to solar products and is calculated using the GOGLA methodology. It measures the additional productive hours that our customers have been able to create as a result of using our products.

In 2022, d.light solar products:[DF1]?

·?????? Transformed the lives of over 100 million people.

·?????? Averted 1.3 million tons of CO? and black carbon emissions.

·?????? Generated an estimated 485 GWh of renewable energy.

·?????? Saved customers an estimated $1.2 billion on energy costs.

·?????? Reached over 20 million school-aged children with solar lighting.

·?????? Created over 100 million additional productive hours.

These results are a testament to the impact that d.light is having on the lives of our customers, and we are committed to continuing to innovate and develop new products and services that will help us realise our mission.