LuminAID is aiding disaster relief work across the globe in the form of packaged inflatable solar LED lights.

The LED light designed by LuminAID founders Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta can operate for about eight hours after charging up under the sun for seven to eight hours. Interestingly, light distribution relies on air blown into the inflatable light, which the company explains also reduces glare from the LED light source. 

Three children in Laos with their inflatable LuminAID lights. (Photo Courtesy of LuminAID via Discovery News)

The company has collaborated with Columbia University on an exclusive patent license agreement for two patents involving inflatable solar lighting. Patents covered include US Patent Publication # US 2012/0120642 A1 and PCT Patent Publication #: WO2013165462 A1. Stork and Sreshta, who met during graduate school, first came up with the prototype while studying at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in 2010.

A little girl from Haiti hugs her new LuminAID light. (Photo Courtesy of LuminAID)

“LuminAID is excited to commercialize new products and applications of the inflatable solar light technology, and will work to make this technology accessible to victims of disaster and crises, and those who lack access to energy around the world” said Andrea Sreshta, co-founder of LuminAID Lab.

The company is working with NGOs across the globe through its Give Light, Get Light program to deliver the device to areas hit by natural disasters including Hurricane Isaac in Haiti, Hurricane Sandy on the U.S. East Coast, Ghana, India and even the Philippines, according to a Discovery News report.