September 19, 2014 – NEW YORK, NY. BioLite, creators of the BioLite CampStove and BioLite HomeStoveline of products, announced that it will speak at a special panel during the UN General Assembly on September 23rd, 2014. The event, co-hosted by Rajiv Shah from USAID and Secretary Justine Greening from DFID, focuses on the countdown to the Millennium Development Goals, an 8-point set of objectives aimed at stimulating country action to eradicate global poverty by 2015. BioLite will be sharing stories from the company’s successful marketbased cookstove distribution, speaking to the unique challenges and opportunities for impact in emerging markets. BioLite, a member of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, launched three commercial pilot programs in 2013 for the BioLite HomeStove, a wood-burning stove that dramatically reduces smoke while generating useful electricity for off-grid communities around the world.
“Half the planet still cooks on smoky open fires, killing more people annually than AIDS, Malaria, and tuberculosis, combined,” Says Jonathan Cedar, BioLite Co-Founder and CEO. “The BioLite HomeStove offers a solution to reduce toxic emissions and climate changing carbon by 90%, cut wood consumption by 50%, and offer a compelling immediate benefit to customers by being able to charge devices like mobile phones or LED lights.”
The HomeStove is currently in distribution across hundreds of villages in India, Ghana, and Uganda, with thousands of units sold over the past year. “We have invested in local teams and built training programs from the ground up,” says Cedar, “we are proud to be an organization that furthers the Millennium Development Goals and we look forward to sharing stories of success and shine a light on the devastating impact of indoor air pollution, a worldwide issue that deserves attention and action.”
In addition to their participation at the upcoming UN General Assembly, BioLite recently spoke on emerging markets and new technologies at the Social Capital Markets Conference, Maker Con and the US Chamber of Commerce Corporate Citizenship Conference. It was also nominated as a finalist for the 2014 Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards in the Social Good category.
About BioLite
BioLite is a dynamic social enterprise that develops, manufactures, and markets consumer energy products for off-grid communities around the world. It is the recipient of numerous awards including the St. Andrews Prize for the Environment, Popular Science Best of What’s New, and the Nokia Health Tech Awards. Headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, the company was founded in 2009 by Jonathan Cedar and Alec Drummond. Discover more about BioLite at biolitestove.com, facebook.com/biolitestove and twitter.com/biolitestove
