Portable Light

Empower People.

Our Mission

The Portable Light Project enables the world’s poorest people to create and own energy harvesting textiles, providing the benefits of renewable power as an integral part of everyday life.

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Most Recent News: Field Reports, Project Milestones, Community Announcements

Ebay-auc-july5

Spread the word about this great cause and BID JULY 5 THROUGH THE 15th!!

The May 2010 ELLE article "Electric Company" saluted some of the brightest, and most fashion-forward, ideas in energy. Eight designers teamed up with architect and director of the Portable Light Project, Sheila Kennedy and her team at KVA MATx (link). Their task: to use Portable Light solar textile kits to create bags that are a source of light and power.

In 2005, Kennedy saw the need to bring light to areas that suffer from energy poverty and created an adaptable solar textile kit to provide renewable light and power. Since the creation of "Portable Light" bags and textiles, her vision has been transforming the lives of women and their families living in remote areas of the world. The Portable Light Project now works with nonprofits in Africa, Central America, Haiti, and India. See bags created by Joseph Muteti, a Kenyan tailor and eight international designers who all graciously offered their talents to further ELLE and Kennedy's Portable Light Project: Tommy Hilfiger, Diane von Furstenburg, Rogan, Loomstate, Lutz & Patmos, Loeffler Randall, Vena Cava, and Zero + Maria Cornejo.

Now, it's YOUR turn to help the ELLE/Portable Light Project! Our auction of the nine beautifully-crafted yet amazingly functional designer handbags will run on Ebay from July 5-15. 100% of the proceeds benefit the non-profit partners of the Portable Light Project, supporting women and children in areas all over the world.

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Flap-pt-web

Visit http://poptech.org/flap to see where FLAP testers are located, read feature stories on the Web, view videos of the bags in use, and much more!

Reuters-st

Gemma Haines reports on the Portable Light project. See how some of the world's top fashion designers developed bags integrating the Portable Light solar textile kit in collaboration with Elle Magazine.

Sheila Kennedy is featured in the article 'Jack Donaghy and the Future of Manufacturing in America' by Scott Anderson aka @greenskeptic. Visit the article here.

Previous News Posts

What Is the Portable Light Project?

More than 2 billion people live without electricity, most in extreme poverty. The Portable Light Project creates new ways to provide renewable power in solar textiles that can be adapted to meet the needs of people in different cultures and global regions. Portable Light textiles with flexible solar materials and solid state lighting enable the world’s poorest people to create and own energy harvesting bags, blankets, and clothing using local materials and traditional weaving and sewing techniques in an open source model.

Portable Light enables people in the developing world to benefit from flexible solar nano-technology and accelerates the movement to clean energy worldwide. Learn More

See How Portable Light Is Being Used