Lighting Lives, Powering Resilience

When disasters strike, power is often the first thing communities lose — and one of the most important things they need to recover. Unite to Light is working to change that by bringing solar-powered resilience solutions to communities both locally and globally. Through a partnership with Dragon Q Energy, Unite to Light is developing a new model for community-scale renewable energy systems that can keep essential services running during emergencies.

The effort builds on Unite to Light’s history of turning simple innovations into global impact. “We’re a test case for the rest of the world,” explains Megan Birney Rudert, president and CEO of Unite to Light. “We’re figuring out how to do it here and then we’re exporting the knowledge and technology globally.” The goal is to prepare Santa Barbara County for future challenges, and to create a blueprint for a rural clinic in Honduras or a remote school in Liberia. 

From a UCSB Lab to 80 Countries

In 2009, Ghanaian visitors Pastor Kofi Fosuhene and Dr. Osei Darkwa walked into UCSB’s Institute for Energy Efficiency with a crushing problem: half their students could not study after sundown. The Institute’s director, Dr. John Bowers, solved the problem by redesigning a solar light to run on a single rechargeable double-A battery. The following year, he co-founded Unite to Light. Today, more than 300,000 “Luke Lights” have reached people in roughly 80 countries, a reach sustained by in-country partners. And just $10 ships a solar light almost anywhere on Earth.

 Unite to Light also provides their lightweight solar battery, the “Chandler Charger,” which can charge a cell phone, tablet, or fetal heart monitor with the power of the sun, for those in need across the world. In Bangladesh, midwives in Rohingya refugee camps deliver babies by Chandler Charger. In one unlit home, a midwife used it to see and phone for life-saving help, allowing mother and baby to survive. “Even the best trained midwife has a hard time doing her job when she can’t see,” Birney Rudert says. 

This year brings the addition of the “Haven Lantern.” A momentous change for rural communities and disaster recovery. “It lights an entire room,” Birney Rudert says, “where our other lights are task lights.” She adds, “This is a game changer for last mile communities as we expect the lantern to last 10-15 years.” 

Over 700 million people worldwide live without electricity. Health, education, and prosperity depend on light and Unite to Light’s single focus is to provide that light – enabling people to live and thrive.