Let There Be Frugal Light

In emerging markets, a thorough understanding of customer needs is perhaps even more important than it is in mature markets. Frugal engineering is not merely low-cost or cost-cutting, but rather seeks to avoid needless costs in the first place [1]. Therefore, the customers’ priorities must be evaluated at the product planning stage. In this sense, I find “design thinking” [2] and frugal engineering to be particularly complementary. Without critical observation on the part of the planners and prioritization of local constituents’ needs, solutions may fall short in terms of efficiency and practical application.

Starting with a “clean sheet” is one step innovators can take to ensure optimal outcomes for their endeavors in frugal engineering. For example, low-income communities in emerging markets will likely use electricity differently than their higher-income counterparts. Daily behavior, tasks, and schedules are all aspects of community members’ lives that designers can observe to help them construct efficacious product designs. In a poor country like the Philippines where more than half the population lives on less than two dollars per day, even cost-effective energy alternatives may not maximize customer value if they do not take local needs into consideration. Building up from the bare minimum is therefore crucial. It is all too easy for designers to become biased by decades- or centuries-old methods of delivering products and services.

Alternative lighting sources in low-income neighborhoods in the Philippines provide an excellent example of this bottom-up approach. After observing individuals’ behavior in their homes, designers determined that basic lighting fixtures would be sufficient for families living in the slums to accomplish their daily tasks while dramatically reducing their electrical bill. The lighting fixtures were in fact so basic that they required no electricity at all – volunteer groups created makeshift “bulbs” out of soda bottles, water, and bleach that jut through holes in the roof and give off about 55 watts of light as a result of solar power [3].

This example illustrates the importance of context-specific considerations. A designer biased by old methods of delivering so-called simple solutions might run the risk of being confined by outdated, yet existing conventions. For instance, candles or lamps with cheap fuel might seem like a decent alternative to electricity, and so might solar cells that have been simplified to reduce costs. These options do not begin with a clean sheet approach, thus they are also less tailored to fit the needs of the specific consumers for whom they are designed. Moreover, they are comparatively dangerous and ill-suited for damp, tropical environments. The low-tech soda bottle light bulb, by contrast, eliminates unnecessary costs in the first place by re-purposing trash for a practical purpose.

Since such examples of frugal engineering are so innovative and context-specific, what are the best methods by which they can become widely implemented? In the Philippines cast, volunteers working with nonprofit organizations installed the light bulbs. Is this implementation process sustainable, or could it be improved?

[1] The Importance of Frugal Engineering, Strategy + Business article (2010)

[2] Design Thinking for Social Innovation, Stanford Social Innovation Review (2010)

[3] In Philippine Slums, Captuing Light in a Bottle, NPR (2011) http://www.npr.org/2011/12/28/144385288/in-philippine-slums-capturing-light-in-a-bottle