Solar panels. Photo: Wiki Commons.

JNS.org – Sam Goldman, founder and chief customer officer of the solar products company d.light design, on Tuesday was named the winner of The Charles Bronfman Prize, which comes with a $100,000 award.

D.light is a for-profit social enterprise that designs, manufactures, and distributes solar light and power products throughout the developing world, including a lantern that replaces kerosene with solar light. The company, founded in 2006, says its work has reached 33 million people in 62 countries.

“Replacing expensive and dangerous kerosene, which produces low quality light and noxious fumes, with affordable solar productsthat provide greatly improved lighting, transforms an unhealthy and dangerous environment for some of the most impoverished people in the world,” former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Stuart E. Eizenstat said on behalf of the prize’s judges.

The Charles Bronfman Prize, in its 10th year, was established by Bronfman’s children to honor “his commitment to applying Jewish values to better the world and to inspire the next generations,” according to a press release. Goldman, 34, is the prize’s first Canadian recipient.

“I am delighted and humbled to be The Charles Bronfman Prize 2014 recipient, becoming part of the prize’s legacy of innovation and humanitarian service tied to Jewish values,” Goldman said.