Parsons Students to Install Public Lighting in Haiti

Mar 15, 2016
Parsons Students to Install Public Lighting in Haiti
Chad Grosha leads Parsons team in Haiti.
Chad Grosha leads Parsons team in Haiti.

Graduate students from Parsons School of Design will travel to Haiti in late May 2016 to install solar lighting on the island of La Gonave. Chad Groshart, a lighting designer at Atelier 10 who teaches the Parsons class “Lighting in the Developing World,” will lead the trip and will be making his second sojourn to Haiti to install sustainable lighting.

The trip will be conducted under the auspices of Parsons School of Design, with Roots of Development and its community partner (APDAGThe Professional Association for the Development and Advancement of Gran Sous/La Gonave). With the exception of one town, the majority of La Gonave’s towns and villages are not connected to any sort of power grid. Most residents live with no electricity at all. The public lighting solution will be based on APDAG’s guidance and on technology that is already available in Haiti.

Students are spending the semester studying energy poverty and how the lighting community can help improve the quality of life of some of the most needy. Students are creating a plan to deliver, donate and install solar lighting to an off-the-grid village.  Homestays with locals will provide a cultural experience of living with almost no controllable light, as they work with the local people each day, installing lighting equipment.

APDAG has identified more than a dozen locations that would strategically benefit from having a street lamp installed. Sites include a school courtyard for studying after dark, lighting at the water source and the health clinic. Roots of Development is currently seeking donations to both fund the students’ travel to Haiti and the equipment needed for the installation. For more information, visit https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/RootsofDevelopment.