Night Light; Living off the Grid

Short Synopsis

Solar lighting is a necessity, not just a green alternative, for billions of villagers in the emerging, developing world, far from the electric power grid that connects all our large cities. In the US, too, people like environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr. protect the environment with a way of life depending on solar power rather than on fossil fueled power plants and cars, and we show how you can too.

Description/Treatment

Our documentary project, Night Light: Living off the Grid is nearing completion. This timely and engaging film will inspire, empower, and inform viewers about the possibility of solar energy and show how the sun’s power can be harnessed in an efficient way to improve lives.

For millions of people, when the sun sets, it’s dark. We may take electric light for granted but people in many parts of the world are forced to use dim, expensive candlelight or carcinogenic kerosene lamps at night. Fortunately, people can use solar energy to light the night anywhere, even many miles away from the expensive power grids that light our cities.

A leader in this effort is SELF (the Solar Electric Light Fund) whose mission is to bring solar power and light to the developing world.
Countries such as Burundi, Nepal, Peru, Benin, Rwanda, and the Solomon Islands now benefit from solar lighting brought by SELF or others. Solar electricity fosters community, improves economic conditions, and enables children to study after the sun sets. Bob Frehling, who runs SELF, recently received the King Hussein Foundation Award from Queen Noor for
exceptional humanitarian leadership in promoting sustainable development.

Actor Ed Begley, a board member of SELF and environmental activist, shows us how he and his wife voluntarily live off the power grid at home, in the midst of Los Angeles, reflecting their commitment to a greener world.

We visit other North American families who have also made the choice to live off the grid. They discuss the practicality and ease of installing solar lighting. We hear their reasoning for living in solar–powered homes and see their green homes.

The documentary Night Light presents people from Africa, South America, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and American cities, who choose to light their homes with solar energy that is not part of the power grid. The immense power grid provides light to most of people living in the modern world, but billions live without it. Many don’t have the option of living on the grid;
their villages are now starting to benefit from solar paneling projects which improve the quality of their lives. Kids play a little later in the day, neighbors gather to socialize, and small markets, often the economic lifeblood of a village, stay open longer. Light is more than an absence of darkness, it builds community.