There once was a time when humanity gathered our own food, birthed our own children (without hospitals) and even built our own homes out of whatever we could find. Most Americans wouldn’t know what to do if corporations ceased providing all their basic necessities, including light.
The average monthly electric bill in America is $110.21, with lighting accounting for about 15 percent of that, according to the Department of Energy. Candles only burn for so long, while the smoke from enclosed fires can kill you faster than the actual flames.
BioLite has been helping the less fortunate in developing countries cook their meals and light up their homes safely and efficiently for nearly a decade. The company once wrote about a woman in Uganda who can now charge her cell phone, cook her meals and light up her home from the fuel the family gathers in nature because of BioLite products. The company is also fast becoming a fixture for freedom-loving Americans, avid campers and those living off-grid.
How Does It Work?
The BioLite CampStove converts wasted heat into usable electricity with a small thermoelectric generator. Dried twigs, pine cones and virtually any other burnable foliage is used for fuel. The heat is intense enough to boil a liter of water in less than five minutes. The grill attachment allows you to cook up the fish you just caught or grill chicken, steaks and/or burgers to perfection.
The USB port on the stove charges charges a dead iPhone (2 watt at 5 volts) enough in 20 minutes to give you 60 minutes of talk time, and according to the Dish Insider Guide, users can charge devices for up to 72 hours of use.
But it’s the BioLite Nanogrid working in conjunction with the stove that makes the product worth its weight in gold. The NanoGrid consists of a lantern that doubles as a flashlight, along with two more SiteLights. The system can be charged with stove power and provide 22 hours of bright illumination.
RVers and off-griders can save hundreds of dollars by eliminating the need for batteries to light up their rigs. Those with solar power and USB ports on their inverters can charge the NanoGrid all day and have bright light the entire evening.
Clean Energy
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 39 percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. is for electricity generation. Coal and oil are still the two most commonly utilized fuels to create electricity despite the well-known damage they do to the environment. The EPA has long recommended solar, wind and geothermal power to curtail both climate change and air pollution. The latter is exactly what BioLite products provide.
Open, smoky fires produce more black carbon emissions than every vehicle driven on Earth combined. The home version of the BioLite stove is now used in 70-plus countries across the globe, eliminating the need for smoky, indoor fires for cooking and light. Millions of lives are being saved, as BioLite stoves emit 90 percent less CO than burning wood. Meanwhile, carbon emissions are being vastly reduced because of the clean, efficient burning of fuel in the stoves.
Mass Adoption Ahead
Though thermoelectric generators have been around in some capacity for nearly 200 years, the technology has never caught on as a viable means of lighting and electricity for the masses in America. Don’t expect mainstream media to speak positively (or at all) about this technology, since that would affect its ad revenue from oil and gas companies.
It’s up to people like us to not only adopt this technology, but to let others know of its existence and functionality. U.S. government officials frequently use soapbox speeches to talk about eliminating our reliance on foreign oil. BioLite is providing a platform for the people to begin eliminating our reliance on government altogether.
