Sustainability | Voltaic Systems – Solar DIY and Device Charging

Mount over 60 Watts of solar panels on the back of a circa-1987 Dave Scott Centurion bicycle and you get a pretty powerful phone, tablet and even laptop charging system. We built this in celebration of NYC’s Bike to Work …

Portable Solar Charging for Bike to Work Day

We left the house a bit earlier than usual today to support NYC’s Bike to Work Day in our own solar-powered way. We decked out our usual commuter bicycle with 60+ Watts of portable solar panels, 180 Watt hours of …

Off-Grid Cabin in Hawaii

We really enjoyed working with LifeEdited to provide backup solar power for their compact New York apartment. So when Graham Hill (the Founder) asked us to help with a more ambitious project, to provide off grid power for his cabin …

Touchlight in the Life Edited Apartment

We have been working for some time on our latest product, the USB Touchlight. This is a super bright, USB-powered LED light, designed to run from our solar batteries. When our good friends at Life Edited asked us to set …

Solar Light Installations in Malawi

Our partner Empower Projects is working to build self-reliant communities in Malawi. As part of this effort, they are installing solar lighting systems in homes: 3.4 Watt Solar Panel, V11 USB Battery, and either USB Touchlight or USB Flexlight. The …

Well-Intentioned Solar Gone Bad

When we installed our solar lighting systems in the Andes, we saw that we weren’t the first to visit the Q’eros with solar solutions. We saw two schools that had fairly large solar systems installed. Unfortunately, one of them didn’t …

Day 2 in the Andes

I awake in the cold and look outside to see snow has covered the valley and the roofs of the homes. I wonder if this is going to slow down our efforts to install 40 lighting kits today. Isn’t it …

Day 1 in the Andes

My head is throbbing, I can barely walk straight, and I’m freezing, but I’m carried on by the siren song of “Otra casa, otra casa!” (another house). Its my second day in Peru and I’m at 5,000 meters, a three …

Buy One Give One in Peruvian Andes

We’re partnering with Water Solutions SAC in Lima and Q’ellqa in Cusco to create an exciting new Buy One Give One program. For every solar power and light kit purchased featuring our new USB Touchlight, we will deliver and install …

Home iPad Charging Station in Life Edited Apartment

What do you do when you really want solar power, but you live in a 350 square foot apartment in NYC with no roof access? That is what our friends at Life Edited asked us to work on. Sunlight was …