BioLite Energy

A shared interest in sustainable inventions led to two avid outdoorsmen who worked together at a design consultancy in NYC to create the CampStove back in 2006 and subsequently start BioLite, a Brookly-based company committed to carbon neutrality. Its flagship product uses biomass (think twigs and pinecones) rather than fossil fuels and leverages thermoelectrics to create a smokeless fire. Roughly the size of a 32-ounce water bottle, the portable stove not only cooks food but charges USB devices as well.

Just a few years later, BioLite founders Jonathan Cedar and Alec Drummond realized there was a need for clean-burning stoves beyond the outdoor recreation market. Half the world’s population cooks on open-wood fires inside rural dwellings and nearly 4 million people die prematurely from the toxic smoke. The shock of these numbers led BioLite to expand into emerging markets that need clean energy for healthy, sustainable living. Using the same heat-to-electricity technology, the company created a large-format biomass stove that reduces toxic emissions by 90%. Like the CampStove, the BioLite HomeStove can also generate and store electricity for USB devices.

BioLite quickly emerged as a leader in both of these markets. Its line of innovative energy products has expanded from cooking stoves to include award-winning solar- and battery-powered lighting solutions that reduce energy poverty in developing nations and increase enjoyment of backcountry adventures. Whether you’re preparing for a power outage or gearing up for an epic adventure, your purchase of BioLite products supports the company’s efforts to create sustainable energy ecosystems in off-grid communities through its parallel innovation business model.