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Light Up The World

Q & A with Dr. David Irvine Halliday, Founder

How would you function without light at night? Or an even bigger question is what is possible with a single light bulb? Dr. Halliday, an engineering professor at the University of Calgary, asked this question when he started Light Up The World (LUTW).

LUTW has lit more than 14,000 homes in 42 countries with sustainable LED lights whose batteries are charged by solar power.

Tides supports Dr. Halliday’s vision by servicing LUTW’s international giving and cross-border philanthropy –making it possible for thousands of children to study at night.

Dr David Irvine Halliday had recently returned from South Africa at the time of this interview.

Why did the townships of South Africa draw your interest?

The townships were in desperate need of lighting. These people are paying about 20 rand a week for paraffin and candles. In one year they could pay for a lighting system worth 20 years of light. I took 7 LED lights with me initially and sold them by micro credit to 7 families, for 1100 rand, roughly 150 dollars. They paid them back almost immediately. One fellow paid it back in 3 months, another family in 5. They now have safe and healthy light, and it creates an enormous amount of wealth because within a year their lighting is free. In fact they save money!

Do you see lives improve with your LED lights?

Tenbisa is in Johannesburg, and out of 10 thousand homes, we’ve now lit 10. They are the only homes with electrical light in the whole settlement. In one of those homes lives a young carver who sells his carvings in the townships. He said if he could carve at night under proper light, he could look for a job during the day.

We put lighting in a woman’s house in a "formal settlement", which means there’s a toilet close by, no electricity. Within a month her lighting costs were zero. With the money she saved, she built a shack and rented it out to earn extra income.

Why don’t you just donate the lighting systems, give them away for free?

There are a couple of billion people in the world without light. If we donated every system, we’d have a huge bill on our hands. If people are paying over 20 dollars a year for lighting, they can purchase our sustainable lighting systems.

Also, we are creating employment and building wealth. We find communities spending money on light, and introduce them to LED lighting. One of the installers we trained was spending 1600 rand a year, 200 dollars a year on candles. The lady we trained in electrical systems uses only paraffin and spends 35 rand a week. In one year she could pay off her entire LED lighting system.