These kits, when combined with local recycled materials such as plastic bottles or glass jars, produce a reading light, a cell phone battery charger, or other electrical gadgets. The power generated from these kits is limited only by our creativity. Each kit provides clean, renewable light. Several kits pave the road to energy independence.

What Is Energy Independence?

Tayasola's mission is to demythologize energy in order for communities to have the knowledge to create their own energy solutions.  We believe energy literacy is as important as learning to read, write and do arithmetic.

TayaSola is a Social Purpose Corporation (SPC), a designation for for-profit businesses in Washington State that balance their responsibility to generate a profit with their commitment to a social mission. By contributing to this campaign, you become part of the TayaSola family, and as this SPC flourishes, you can say “Yes, I helped build that.”

Better Than Kerosene

Today across much of the world, lighting at night is powered by kerosene lanterns. Unfortunately, habitual use of kerosene is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes per day. Kerosene is not only an unhealthy solution, it is also expensive. At US$0.50 per day, approximately 20-30% of a peoples' income is spent on kerosene.

At scale (e.g., once thousands of kits are produced), the TayaSola Lantern Kit will cost just US$5.00. In Kenya alone, 7 million households burn kerosene, spending US$1.2 billion per year, much of which can be replaced by a few million TayaSola Lanterns and other renewable energy products.

Our Vision for the TayaSola Lantern Kit

Last year, the TayaSola Lantern Kit prototype evolved and the vision grew beyond light for classrooms in Kenya towards energy independence for 1.2 billion people.  Fueled by support from Fledge, the "conscious company" incubator and Cultural Reconnections, Alma assembled a team with experience ranging from electrical engineering, software development and testing, organizational leadership, marketing, foreign aid, international community development, and more to bring the TayaSola Lantern Kits from prototype into full production and distribution.

Your funding makes possible the following:

We are looking to raise $20,000 with which we will:

• Refine the design of TayaSola Lantern Kit
• Perform additional field testing and collaborate with our Kenyan Partners
• Produce and distribute 500 TayaSola Lantern Kits

We need your help. TayaSola is starting this Indiegogo campaign to get affordable solar solutions into communities in Kenya, while at the same time offering people in the US the opportunity to:

• Pre-purchase kits for themselves and their families
• Promote energy independence at home and abroad