In off-or weak-grid markets, it’s common to find generic products that do not have a brand name or model number listed on the product’s packaging or other consumer-facing materials. If the brand name or model number is not included on any consumer-facing information, it is marked as “Not stated”.

The sample locations refer to the place where the products are sampled or procured. If sample locations are listed as a city and country, it means the products were randomly sampled and purchased from that location, either from manufacturers or from retail shops. If the sample location is listed as “Manufacturer’s Warehouse”, it means the product was randomly sampled directly from the warehouse.

The same model is listed twice for one of two reasons. The first is that the VeraSol team occasionally tests the same product sampled from different years to understand how product performance changes over time. The second is that when we engage with a new test lab, the VeraSol team conducts round robin testing (i.e. working with various test labs to test the same product models and compare results to ensure data consistency). The results produced by various test labs through round robin testing are all shared on the VeraSol Product Database.

A field is marked as “Not tested” for one of two reasons. The first is that the original test method did not include that specific test, and so certain tests were not performed for some of the earlier products. The second is that it is not applicable to the product (e.g. ceiling fans do not undergo a drop test).

The retail price is included where possible to provide a reference for what a consumer might pay for a product in a given market. For some of the products sampled directly from manufacturers, companies provide the “Free On Board (FOB)” or wholesale pricing which may not include import duties, mark-ups, and other additional costs that can influence the final retail pricing. Depending on which market the products are sold, the difference between FOB and retail price can vary significantly, making it difficult to compare the two. Additionally, when appliances are sold with a solar home system, we cannot isolate the price of the appliance from the whole system package price. For these cases, the products are marked as “N/A”.

The performance metrics that are most important for evaluation will depend on what aspects are most significant for your work (e.g. warranty may be more important than power consumption). These metrics also vary between the different product types (e.g. the performance metrics for TVs include on mode power consumption, average on mode power consumption per unit of screen size, etc.) The most common performance metrics used for evaluating a product are organized by energy performance, quality & durability, and safety & consumer protection. Please contact us to learn more about the most important metrics to use when evaluating specific product categories.

VeraSol covers a number of product attributes or “metrics” defined by test methods. There are two main categories of metrics: energy performance, quality & durability, and safety & consumer protection, and each list of metrics varies for each product type. These metrics are important to understand when comparing models. Please contact us to learn more about the most important metrics to use when evaluating specific product categories.

We recommend reaching out directly to manufacturers to get more information on their processes for procurement. For off-grid appliance Global LEAP Awards Winners and Finalists, you can refer to the Buyer’s Guides for TVs (2016 and 2017), fans (2016 and 2017), refrigerators (2017 and 2019), and solar water pumps (2019) for manufacturers’ contact information. Mangoo Marketplace also sells some of the appliances featured on the VeraSol Product Database. Please also contact the VeraSol team if you are unable to find a manufacturer’s contact information.