December 8, 2014
The KaliPAK solar generator.
The KaliPAK solar generator.

Dining by candlelight is nice only when it’s on purpose. If a hurricane, tornado, earthquake or another natural disaster knocked you off the energy grid, the romance is lost.

That’s where the lightweight, portable energy generator called the KaliPAK kicks in. This new product, designed by Kalisaya, a Tel Aviv-New York-based startup, could change how people hook up to energy sources when the power’s out.

The KaliPAK is touted as an environmentally friendly portable solar-power source designed primarily for emergency rescue missions, but also for the extreme-sports and camping sectors.

The idea came from watching rescue teams at the disaster sites of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy  and Fukushima earthquake.

“The first infrastructure that goes down during such events is electricity. With no grid power comes lack of light, lack of communications, fear and panic,” the company explains on its website. “We … believe that governments, municipalities, communities and individuals need personal survival kits that are portable, durable, packed with energy yet able to recharge autonomously. This kit should enable light and communications for at least seven nights of power outage in a row before the need to recharge.”

The Kalisaya team of industrial and product designers, engineers and entrepreneurs tested early prototype models with rescue teams within Israel, and with an IDF rescue and medical support mission to the Philippines in 2013.

The KaliPAK proved useful in backing up smartphones and providing energy to a portable defibrillator for a medical team.

“It’s very exciting to have an idea that will improve and perhaps even save lives,” says Yaron Gissin, creator and founder of KaliPAK.

“At the beginning we wanted to help alleviate the stress that natural disasters have on people’s lives, but we quickly realized that the KaliPAK’s portability would also make it popular with outdoor adventurers and others.”

Humanitarian organizations in Africa turned to the developers as well. “We found out that whereas we were targeting the Solar Energy Packs for emergency and crisis situations, people and communities in sub-Saharan Africa simply need it for everyday life – schooling, basic medical applications, communications and light,” Gissin writes on the company blog.

KaliPAK joined forces with Vital Capital Fund, an impact investment fund focused on enhancing the quality of life of communities in rapidly developing nations, and promised to donate at least two percent of all produced KaliPAKs to sub-Saharan African communities.

According to the developers, when the device is fully charged it can charge a smartphone 100 times over, a laptop 10-15 times and provide 120 hours of light. It weighs less than other products on the market (just 13 pounds/5.9 kilograms) and has integrated Bluetooth that allows users to control the energy levels or activate an emergency beacon.

However, you cannot buy it just yet. The Kalisaya team is trying to raise a whopping $250,000 on a Kickstarter campaign. The crowdfunding site chose it as one of its top picks among current campaigns.

Click here for more information.

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