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BioLite is a New York City-based startup company that produces off-grid energy products for outdoor recreational use and emerging markets. The company is known for its wood-burning stoves that use thermoelectric technology to create usable electricity from the heat of their fires. It was founded in 2006.
Jonathan Cedar and Alexander Drummond together developed the BioLite stove technology. They met while working at Smart Design, a design consultancy in New York City. [1] The two inventors became interested in portable stoves that utilized small amounts of biomass to power battery-powered fans. The idea evolved to a low-emissions stove that used a thermoelectric generator called the BioLite CampStove, which was officially launched in 2012. BioLite is headquartered in DUMBO, Brooklyn with an additional office in Nairobi, Kenya.
In 2009, the founders learned that their technology could have impact on off-grid developing communities and bifurcated the business to incorporate both outdoor recreational and emerging markets. [2] [3] Using a modified rocket stove and working with the Aprovecho Research Center, Cedar developed a larger model cook stove named the HomeStove, designed to replace harmful indoor cooking fires.
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The HomeStove's design converts the heat of fire into usable electricity to power a fan, which then reduces fuel needs by 50%, toxic smoke by about 95%, and carbon monoxide emissions by 91%. Additionally, the amount of CO2 saved per year by one stove equals the amount that's saved by buying a hybrid car. [6] The remaining off-grid energy that does not power the fan can then be used to charge portable devices through a USB port, such as cell phones and LED lights. [7] [8] Moreover, the effects of deforestation are lessened and time is regained by women and children who spend hours gathering wood for open fires. Manufacturing costs are low, and this efficient wood-burning stove pays for itself within six to seven months. [9]
BioLite focuses on sustainable market development by using a market-based approach, as opposed to donations or a “one for one” model. This allows for local entrepreneurship and stimulates local markets. [10] The HomeStove is currently in large-scale pilot testing across India, Ghana, and Uganda. Recently, thanks to a Spark Fund grant, BioLite will be kicking off a project in Uganda with partners at Impact Carbon. [11] The Spark Fund grant is part of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an organization that provides clean cook stoves to people in areas with high poverty rates. Its mission is to reduce the number of deaths caused by open cooking fires each year (approximately four million) and is endorsed by people such as Julia Roberts and Hillary Clinton (who referred to BioLite in her announcement of the UN Clean Cookstove Alliance). [4] [12] [13]
The CampStove was launched in 2012 and is predominantly used by outdoor enthusiasts. Renewable biomass fuels – such as sticks, pinecones, and brush – power the stove instead of resources like charcoal or petroleum. The CampStove can boil water in 4.5 minutes. [14] Smaller than the HomeStove, the CampStove is 8.25” tall and weighs 33 oz, but like the larger model, excess heat is converted into energy. BioLite sells stoves in over seventy countries. The CampStove has also been used as an emergency preparedness tool. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, tables were set up in New York City, offering those without power hot drinks and a chance to charge their cell phones. [15]
The BioLite Portable Grill, released in 2013, is designed to work with the CampStove. Features include a fuel intake lid for fire maintenance, compact design with foldable legs and a travel cover for transportation. Other accessories for the CampStove include a FlexLight for nighttime cooking, a KettlePot for boiling water, and a CoffeePress for camp coffee.
In 2017, BioLite launched a smokeless wood-burning fire pit called the FirePit on Kickstarter.
BioLite also has a set of rechargeable lights: HeadLamp 330, HeadLamp 200, HeadLamp 750, SiteLight String, AlpenGlow 250 and AlpenGlow 500. BioLite lanterns incorporate rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with LED ChromaReal Technology, can be recharged with a USB connection, and can supply power to external devices via USB.
BioLite's SolarHome 620 has a solar panel that charges up a central control box which powers 3 hanging lights, USB charge-out, and an MP3/FM radio system. The SolarHome 620 is currently in use in over 40,000 homes across western Kenya as well as vans, cabins, and sheds throughout the United States and beyond.
BioLite also sells products that can generate and store electricity for USB devices. They make the SolarPanel 5+, the SolarPanel 10+, and the Charge 20, Charge 40, and Charge 80. The SolarPanels are both solar panels with a "kickstand", with the "+" model including an internal lithium-ion battery for energy storage. The Charge products are re-chargeable battery banks to store power for USB devices.
According to BioLite, they used their “near-term CampStove market as a way to generate revenue that essentially allowed [them] to become [their] own investors in the HomeStove vision.” [16] That involves a market-based approach to some of the issues in emerging communities. The recreational and emergency preparedness markets of the CampStove and other products keep the HomeStove and SolarHome 620 low-cost for off-grid communities in sub-Saharan Africa. BioLite uses local distribution networks and alters their stove design to support the variety of cultural cooking preferences.
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from Greek: κηρός (keros) meaning "wax", and was registered as a trademark by Canadian geologist and inventor Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a generic trademark. It is sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage. The term kerosene is common in much of Argentina, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, and the United States, while the term paraffin is used in Chile, eastern Africa, South Africa, Norway, and in the United Kingdom. The term lamp oil, or the equivalent in the local languages, is common in the majority of Asia and the Southeastern United States. Liquid paraffin is a more viscous and highly refined product which is used as a laxative. Paraffin wax is a waxy solid extracted from petroleum.
Moixa is a British cleantech company that develops software and hardware for better use of renewable energy. In the UK they are well known for producing smart batteries that are installed with solar panels on residential properties. The company also designs its GridShare Software which adds optimisation to the battery systems and can also be used to create a VPP with other batteries such as the work they do in Japan with ITOCHU. GridShare Software can also be used to add intelligence to other battery and EV Chargers to help use energy more efficiently and reduce the costs to the household. They have a team of around 70 employees in London who work on their battery hardware products and GridShare software.
Microgeneration is the small-scale production of heat or electric power from a "low carbon source," as an alternative or supplement to traditional centralized grid-connected power.
Household air pollution (HAP) is a significant form of indoor air pollution mostly relating to cooking and heating methods used in developing countries. Since much of the cooking is carried out with biomass fuel, in the form of wood, charcoal, dung, and crop residue, in indoor environments that lack proper ventilation, millions of people, primarily women and children face serious health risks. In total, about three billion people in developing countries are affected by this problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that cooking-related pollution causes 3.8 million annual deaths. The Global Burden of Disease study estimated the number of deaths in 2017 at 1.6 million. The problem is closely related to Energy poverty and cooking.
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight to a hot spot, often to drive a steam turbine.
A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to convert the output from direct to alternating current, as well as mounting, cabling, and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. It may also use a solar tracking system to improve the system's overall performance and include an integrated battery.
A solar tuki is a rechargeable solar lighting system that is being implemented in Nepal to replace kerosene lamps commonly used by villagers. It includes two lamps that have white LED lights powered by an individual solar panel. In 2004, Engineers Anil Chitrakar and Babu Raj Shrestha collaborated with their respective organizations, Environmental Camps for Conservation Awareness and Centre for Renewable Energy, to produce, distribute, and further the development of the solar tuki in Nepal. Their organizations sell the solar tuki systems, including solar panel, for $28 U.S. dollars, and the individual lamp is sold for $11.
Renewable energy in developing countries is an increasingly used alternative to fossil fuel energy, as these countries scale up their energy supplies and address energy poverty. Renewable energy technology was once seen as unaffordable for developing countries. However, since 2015, investment in non-hydro renewable energy has been higher in developing countries than in developed countries, and comprised 54% of global renewable energy investment in 2019. The International Energy Agency forecasts that renewable energy will provide the majority of energy supply growth through 2030 in Africa and Central and South America, and 42% of supply growth in China.
A solar lamp, also known as a solar light or solar lantern, is a lighting system composed of an LED lamp, solar panels, battery, charge controller and there may also be an inverter. The lamp operates on electricity from batteries, charged through the use of solar panel
A solar charger is a charger that employs solar energy to supply electricity to devices or batteries. They are generally portable.
The lithium-titanate or lithium-titanium-oxide (LTO) battery is a type of rechargeable battery which has the advantage of being faster to charge than other lithium-ion batteries but the disadvantage of having a much lower energy density.
Energy in Common (EIC) was a not-for-profit organization issuing microloans specifically and only for renewable energy technologies. EIC was founded by Hugh Whalan and Scott Tudman in 2009. It has the very ambitious goal of delivering renewable energy to 15 million people in the next five years, while fighting poverty by empowering developing world entrepreneurs through microloans. EIC represents one of the most promising contenders in the growing green microfinance sector. As of 2012, it has ceased operations due to a lack of funds after their overseas partners defaulted on their loan obligations.
The Clean Cooking Alliance, formerly the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, is a non-profit organization operating with the support of the United Nations Foundation to promote clean cooking technologies in lower and middle-income countries. According to the World Health Organization, 4.3 million people a year die from health problems attributable to household air pollution from the use of polluting open fires and inefficient fuels for cooking. The Alliance was announced in 2010 by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Dymphna previously worked as CEO for the Clinton Climate Initiative organization.
A clean-burning stove is a stove with reduced toxic and polluting emissions. The term refers to solid-fuel stoves such as wood-burning stoves for either domestic heating, domestic cooking or both. In the context of a cooking stove, especially in lower-income countries, such a stove is distinct from a clean-burning-fuel stove, which typically burns clean fuels such as ethanol, biogas, LPG, or kerosene. Studies into clean-burning cooking stoves in lower-income countries have shown that they reduce the emissions of dangerous particulates and carbon monoxide significantly, use less fuel than regular stoves, and result in fewer burn injuries. However, the emissions some supposedly clean-burning cookstoves produce are still much greater than safe limits, and in several studies in lower income countries they did not appear to be effective at reducing illnesses such as pneumonia induced by breathing polluted air, which may have many sources.
The LuminAID is a solar-rechargeable light that packs flat and inflates to diffuse light like a lantern. LuminAID technology was invented in 2010 by Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta.
Enphase Energy, Inc. is an American energy technology company headquartered in Fremont, California, that develops and manufactures solar micro-inverters, battery energy storage, and EV charging stations primarily for residential customers. Enphase was established in 2006 and is the first company to successfully commercialize the solar micro-inverter, which converts the direct current (DC) power generated by a solar panel into grid-compatible alternating current (AC) for use or export. The company had shipped more than 48 million microinverters to 2.5 million solar systems in more than 140 countries.
InStove is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2012.
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African Clean Energy is a B Corp-certified enterprise which produces and distributes solar-biomass hybrid energy systems in developing countries. The company was founded in Lesotho, where it manufactures the ACE One Energy System. The company's headquarters are in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
One aspect of energy poverty is lack of access to clean, modern fuels and technologies for cooking. As of 2020, more than 2.6 billion people in developing countries routinely cook with fuels such as wood, animal dung, coal, or kerosene. Burning these types of fuels in open fires or traditional stoves causes harmful household air pollution, resulting in an estimated 3.8 million deaths annually according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and contributes to various health, socio-economic, and environmental problems.