Sheila Kennedy

An expert in electrical and information infrastructures and strategic conceptual problem solving, Sheila Kennedy is cofounder and principal of Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Ltd. (KVA). Kennedy’s ongoing, interdisciplinary Portable Light project explores how to bring affordable, electrical lighting to third-world countries. Kennedy and her team have developed a portable textile that uses sunlight to harvest electrical energy. With light, communities can improve literacy and health and increase daily household economic production. The KVA team is finding applications for Portable Light in industrialized countries as well. Kennedy writes: “Nanotechnology can benefit not only the ‘third’ world—where more than 2 billion people currently do not have access to electricity—but also the ‘first’ world, where energy-efficient design is increasingly important.”

Speaker PopTech 2007

Tags: Energy Technology Sustainability solar PopTech 2007

Videos

Sheila Kennedy: Upcycled lighting

Find more at poptech.org/ popcasts

Archived blog posts

Flexible Light and Power Bags to Haiti

Editor’s note: For more on the the FLAP portable solar bag, please see the FLAP FAQ page.

Back in November, we sent a number of FLAPs (Flexible Light And Power solar bags) to be tested by Maison de Naissance’s mobile health care workers. When the devastating earthquake struck, we reached out to Maison de Naissance’s staff to see if they could use …

FLAP Videos from a Navajo Reservation

Editor’s note: For more on the FLAP off-grid solar project, see the PopTech FLAP page.

One might think of living at the “base of the pyramid” as an unimaginably difficult situation confined to those in the developing world, but there are plenty of people living at the base right here in the United States in the 21st century—people like Pat Boone.

I …

FLAP Bags to Haiti; Dr. Serena Koenig on Health Care in Haiti

Very soon, we will ask for your help as we send FLAP (Flexible Light And Power) portable light bags with a solar panel, an LED, and a USB charger to relief efforts in Haiti.

The FLAP bags are a prototype off-grid light solution (video below) that can be used in undeveloped areas and emergency situations:

If you …

FLAP Bag Update: Mozambique, Kenya, and Haiti

Editor’s note: PopTech staff Coco Rojas gives an update on the FLAP (Flexible Light And Power) solar bag project and who is helping us test it right now below—FLAP is a collaborative effort from PopTech, Timbuk2, and Portable Light Project. You can find out more about the project’s history and field work on the PopTech Hub, our social …

FLAP (Flexible Light And Power) Collaborative Bag

Here’s the video we just watched at PopTech 2009 on the FLAP bag; participants received a bag that they can upgrade to a FLAP bag that has a solar panel and a USB port and an LED light.

Find out more about the FLAP project here and see the FLAP FAQ.

Below is the introductory video for a web series we’ll be posting in …

Wine Tasting with Philippe Newlin, Playing the Cello with Hans Jensen, and Daniel Coyle on Practicing at PopTech 2009

This crisp afternoon, six different Wednesday PopTech 2009: America Reimagined sessions took place around Camden and surrounding areas.

Under the exposed beams of High Mountain Hall, Philippe Newlin, Wine ‘Professor’ at both Columbia and Yale universities, as well as former Tasting Director of Wine and Spirits magazine showed PopTechers …

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