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.
Learn MoreMost Recent News: Field Reports, Project Milestones, Community Announcements
FLAP bags in Kenya
Timbuk2 Solar Bags at Daraja Academy from Mark Lukach on Vimeo.
FLAP demo -- to debut at PopTech 2009
FLAP- Project from jonathan laurence on Vimeo.
At the KVA MATx studio in Boston, media artist Jonathan Laurence captures a glimpse of the many positions of the new FLAP (Flexible Light And Power) prototype.
Charles Garcia, Portable Light Project team member since 2005, demonstrates the variations. A designer for the FLAP project, Charles will help debut the latest product at the PopTech 2009 Conference beginning October 21 in Camden, ME. He will also be providing live updates and more from Maine--stay tuned!
Trollbäck + Company Creates a “Sew / Sew” Icon
The Portable Light Project has a new graphic icon and logotype created by Trollbäck + Company, an award winning NYC based creative studio that produces content across the broadcast, print and interactive media. Designer Christina Rüegg of Trollbäck + Company took inspiration for this graphic design from the sun’s energy, radiating light, and sewing stitch patterns used in the local / global fabrication of Portable Light solar textile kits. We’re delighted with the new “sew /sew” icon for Portable Light—look for it in print, on the web, integrated into solar textiles, in motion and more!
PL at the World Energy Justice Conference
The Rocky Mountain Institute, our collaborators on the Portable Light Project, will present Portable Light solar textiles in the ‘Technology Arcade’ of the World Energy Justice Conference, October 23-24.
Portable Light at the World Energy Justice Conference in October 23-24 Wolf Law Building, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO
Follow FLAP at Fast Company
Fast Company has been following the collaboration between PopTech, Timbuk2 Designs, and the Portable Light Project with a series of perspectives on the project by the various players:
Kevin McSpadden of Timbuk2 designs
FLAP Landing Page at Timbuk2.com
The Portable Light Project partners with Paso Pacifico at 2009 Clinton Global Initiative
“How can you empower people economically in ways that also lift a country? How can you figure out a way to get all the kids in the world in school? How can you fight climate change by making investments that are actually profitable in the long run? President Bill Clinton, Clinton Global Initiative, 2009
Paso Pacifico teams with the Portable Light Project at the 5th Annual Clinton Global Initiative to advance women and girls as environmental leaders in Nicaragua and raise awareness about the leadership roles for women and girls across Central America. Paso Pacifico will provide training and tools to local women as they develop ocean conservation and tree nursery businesses to mitigate climate change. With Portable Light solar textiles, Paso Pacifico will use sustainable technology and market-based approaches to empower women in resource protection and sustainable enterprise development, while also building capacity through education and training in eco-tourism, resource management, and organizational leadership.
Paso Pacifico and The Portable Light Project are working together on CGI innovation programs that will directly benefit the lives of four hundred women and girls in rural Nicaragua, increasing economic and leadership opportunities linked to the environment. Thirty Portable Light solar kits will be distributed to women and girls in communities without electricity. This sustainable technology will provide increased opportunity for education because it will allow work and study during evening hours. In Performance-based Incentives for Conservation, Paso Pacifico and the Paso del Istmo community will designate a beach for a sea turtle hatchery to be managed solely by women. Women will receive Portable Light solar textiles and training in methods for turtle monitoring. The participants in this program will receive up to $50 USD for every nest protected. There are hundreds of nests on these beaches each year.
The Portable Light Project and Paso Pacifico Launch Conservation Programs
The Portable Light Project has launched a new phase of economically sustainable Conservation work with NGO Paso Pacifico in the Paso del Istmo region of Nicaragua. Portable Light solar textiles harvest sunlight on locally produced conservation tool bags. At night, the lanterns provide light in local schools where people learn to work in local conservation businesses. Portable Light textiles provide USB clean energy to charge cell phones, enabling cellular service provider Movistar to accelerate connectivity in the region.
Paso Pacifico rangers use Portable light solar textiles at night to protect endangered sea turtle eggs and nests. The participants in this program will receive up to $50 USD for every nest protected. There are hundreds of nests on these beaches each year.
Descargar la Nota de Prensa Paso Pacifico y Portable Light (en Espanol) attached
Sheila Kennedy at the Aspen Evironment Forum 2009
Hear Sheila Kennedy on clean energy, mobility and conservation. Please go to minute 13.48 of this clip from Aspen Environment Forum 2009: Big Ideas
From the Closing Reception: Elliot Laws, Crystal Durham, Chip Ransler, David Keith, Sheila Kennedy, Nia Robinson, Nick Nichols and Craig Sieben.
FLAP Bags in Africa!
The FLAPs project is now in Africa! FLAPs (Flexible Light and Power) provides an adaptable new form of portable power and light to people without access to the electrical grid or in contexts where electrical power is unreliable. FLAPs is a collaborative effort launched by a world-class group of partners including The Portable Light Project, Timbuk2, and PopTech.
We're using an open integration approach, based on the idea that people can co-create and adopt the ways that FLAP solar kits are used to suit their needs. Follow FLAPs news on the ground in Africa, at http://www.afrigadget.com/category/flap-bag-project with our friends Erik Hersman (Afrigaget), Henry Addo in Ghana (Ushahidi) and David Ngigi in Kenya (a young videographer) as they ask people how they would adopt these kits, look for inventiveness, and explore how FLAPs can be usable and adaptable to everyday life in Africa.
The FLAPs project integrates a new 2 watt lighting and cell phone charging resource created by the Portable Light Team into the flap of a new type of messenger bag, created by Timbuk2. FLAPs power high brightness solid state lighting for 10 hours with a 6 hour solar charge and provide clean energy through a USB port for charging cell phones, medical devices, radios and many other devices. FLAPs can provide mobile power and light for people with cottage industries and small business, for village schools, for mobile doctors and nurses, citizen journalists and conservation workers. Through modular design and global scaling, the FLAPs project holds the potential to be the first affordable, rugged and fully portable resource for clean energy and light.
Copyright © 2009 Portablelight.org
