Biolite: bringing energy everywhere

Three billion people around the world use simple stoves or open fires for cooking. It’s unhealthy, burns through a lot of trees, and is a source of black carbon – a powerful greenhouse pollutant. Efficient cookstoves are one of the simplest interventions we can make to reduce these negative impacts and improve people’s lives. More efficient fires save time gathering wood, or save money if people are buying firewood. They reduce indoor smoke, and lower the risk of respiratory illness.

A good rocket stove or wood gas stove is in fact one of the most efficient ways to cook that there is – three times the thermal efficiency of an electric hob.

At the same time, 1.2 billion people are without electricity. Most of them are in Africa, and while more and more people are getting connected, at this rate there will still be 900 million without power in 203o.

Biolite are a company that are doing something about both of these problems. They develop clean and affordable technologies that provide cooking heat, light and mobile phone charging. Their cookstoves are the first to charge mobile phones, and they’re on sale in installments in Kenya, Uganda and India.

In order to support this side of the business, a post on www.thecampingfire.co.uk outlines that Biolite produce camping stoves, solar lights and outdoor equipment for campers and adventurers in the West. I like their business model and I’m a rocket stove enthusiast myself, so I thought it would be a good business to partner with on the blog.

If you’re in the market for solar lights and chargers or camping stoves, buying from Biolite through the links on this site will support my writing and support universal energy access. And you’ll get some great outdoor equipment that will lower your own carbon emissions too.

Here’s a video introducing Biolite, and you can check out their website here.

• They’re currently running a Kickstarter campaign for a smokeless fire pit. We live quite close to Luton airport and we’re not allowed bonfires because of the smoke, so I’m tempted to request one for Christmas.