Solar lighting for emergency shelters: Field insights from Ukraine
In summer 2025, BRIGHT deployed 710 solar lamps across Ukrainian emergency shelters, schools and displacement settings. Field monitoring data from Kharkiv shows how solar lighting supports safety, mobility and education continuity in conflict-affected environments.
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![A student in Kyiv uses the BRIGHT Sol Mid Capacity solar lamp to study a map.]()
- Humanitarian
- Insights
- Stories
Solar lighting for emergency shelters: Field insights from Ukraine
In summer 2025, BRIGHT deployed 710 solar lamps across Ukrainian emergency shelters, schools and displacement settings. Field monitoring data from Kharkiv shows how solar lighting supports safety, mobility and education continuity in conflict-affected environments.
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![Sol can be mounted on a wall, giving reliable light indoors and in shelters.]()
- Design & development
- Insights
How Sol rethinks portable solar lighting for humanitarian response
Years of research, circular design, and principled engineering have shaped Sol – BRIGHT’s next-generation portable solar lamp. Built for humanitarian procurement, Sol reduces replacement cycles, logistics cost, and long-term operational risk.
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![BRIGHT Products Technical Engineer Mohammed Yassin (left) joins BRIGHT’s manufacturing partners in observing a wire‑bending test that is part of the engineering stress tests the company carries out to ensure the quality and reliability of its products.]()
- Design & development
- Insights
- Humanitarian
How BRIGHT ensures quality and reliability for humanitarian procurement
Reliable lighting is essential in humanitarian response and emergency preparedness. BRIGHT’s portable solar lamps are engineered, tested, and certified to perform in demanding environments. This guide explains the solar lamp standards used globally, how BRIGHT validates product quality, and what procurement teams should look for when selecting solar lighting.
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![Despite their simple look, portable solar lamps like the SunBell 2.0 Y, are compact energy systems.]()
- Science
- Insights
How do portable solar lamps work?
Understanding how portable solar lamps work helps you make better decisions, whether you are supporting humanitarian operations, looking for dependable off-grid solar lighting or preparing for power cuts at home. This guide explains the fundamentals. We cover solar lamp basics, charging and storage, battery runtime, common misconceptions, and when portable solar lighting works best.
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![Discover how solar lamps improve safety, education and resilience in displacement camps. Evidence, impact and procurements insights for humanitarian organisations.]()
- Humanitarian
- Insights
Bringing light to displacement settlements: The role of solar lamps
Discover how solar lamps improve safety, education and resilience in displacement camps. Evidence, impact and procurements insights for humanitarian organisations.
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![Repair trainees learn how to fix solar lamp PCBs as part of BRIGHT’s humanitarian e-waste programme.]()
- Sustainability
- Field work
- Humanitarian
- Repair
- Insights
Why producer engagement is important for solving the e-waste challenge in displacement settings: Lessons from Cox’s Bazar
Solar lamp producers who supply humanitarian organisations in displacement settings have a critical role in supporting organisations managing electronic waste (e-waste). Explore how BRIGHT’s Repair Program supported impactful repair initiatives in Cox’s Bazar Kutupalong settlement.
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![A shipment of BRIGHT solar lamps being loaded from one of our warehouses in China]()
- Insights
Humanitarian logistics: How we ensure reliable lead times in emergency procurement
BRIGHT has delivered over 4.3 million pico-solar products to more than 60 countries, reaching communities in crisis zones, refugee camps, and remote off-grid areas. Behind this achievement is an innovative humanitarian logistics system that combines data-driven planning, sustainable packaging, and trusted global partnerships. With hubs in China and Norway, BRIGHT ensures solar lamps and energy solutions reach those who need them most – quickly, reliably and responsibly.
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![Image of the upgraded SunBell 2.0Y solar panel made with 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic and the Sol solar lamp with the new, lighter and more efficient monocrystalline solar panel using Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) plastic. Two latest innovations showcasing BRIGHT's approach to using circular product design to tackkle plastic pollution]()
- Insights
Tackling plastic pollution through circular product design, BRIGHT’s approach
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that globally more than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced annually. Half is used once and discarded, with less than 10% recycled. Around 11 million tonnes end up in water bodies annually, imposing a global environmental and social cost of between US$300 billion to US$600 billion.
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