Kerosene has already been replaced; batteries are cheaper than fuel, and LED lamps are cheaper than kerosene lamps. The rest of this page looks pretty scummy; it says "780 million women and children inhale smoke which is equivalent to smoking 2 packets of cigarettes every day", which blatantly fails basic sanity-checking, and as others have pointed out the duration and brightness numbers for this don't add up either. So this is at best a well-intentioned but stupid waste of money, and at worst a scam.
> Around 3 billion people still cook and heat their homes using solid fuels in open fires and leaky stoves. About 2.7 billion burn biomass (wood, animal dung, crop waste) and a further 0.4 billion use coal. Most are poor, and live in developing countries.
> Nearly half of deaths among children under five years old from acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) are due to particulate matter inhaled from indoor air pollution from household solid fuels (WHO, 2009).
> Paraffin, also known as kerosene, is among the most frequently used fuels for cooking, lighting and heating among people living in low-income communities lacking electricity in low- and middle-income countries.
> The homes themselves were modest. Almost none had running water and most were constructed of some combination of tin and wood. They averaged 2.0 rooms and 1.4 beds. Although more than 80% of participants had electricity in their home – often through illegal tapping of community electricity sources – they also reported paraffin as their primary fuel for cooking (36.6%), lighting (27.4%) and heating (95.6%). Most (92.8%) participants reported daily paraffin use, and all but one reported at least occasional paraffin use.
Kerosene is still used by very many people for lighting, (even among people who have some access to electricity). The use of kerosene for lighting causes harm.
That link is a survey of two towns, conducted in 2007. LEDs are a recent enough invention that 5 years is a very long time ago. And it asked "what is your primary fuel for lighting?", not "do you use fuel for lighting?"
the duration and brightness numbers for this don't add up either
They do if you're comparing it to a kerosene lamp; kerosene has certainly not been "replaced" in parts of the world that don't have easy access to batteries or electricity in general. See the numbers elsewhere in the thread. And it apparently does use an LED light.
