Better Energy Systems was founded in London in 2001 by Chris Hornor. Its mission in a sentence? “Thinking ‘outside the grid’ to create true energy independence for people around the world,” says Daniel.

The Solio, which put the company on the map, is a revolutionary solar-powered charger that’s capable of powering up most mobile phones, iPods and MP3 players, cameras, GPS devices and other handhelds. It charges from 100% solar power or the mains, and stores power as a result of its clever internal lithium ion battery.

The gadget was dreamed up in 2002 when Chris saw a huge gap in the solar market – and it subsequently became the centre of the Better Energy Systems universe.

“Chris created a company around Solio because he, like a lot of us, loves technology and uses a lot of power-hungry gadgets, is concerned about the environment and the current unsustainable energy paradigm, and was sick of having to carry around five different wall chargers that were all probably going to end up in landfills,” Daniel explains.

“Between tiny solar cells on calculators and enormous rooftop arrays, there were basically no practical consumer products that integrated solar. Chris thought that putting PV (photo voltaic) cells in a portable charger with a cool design, and making it accessible to the average person, would be a great way to inject awareness of renewable energy into the mainstream.”

With the Solio now firmly established, retailing in the U.S., on the High Street here in the UK and not to mention all over the internet, Daniel believes it’s only a matter of time before more people go ‘off grid’.

“Over the next five years, we will import and use 2.5 billion chargers for handheld electronics in the US alone,” he explains. “Over this time, these chargers will create a total of 9 billion kilograms of carbon in the form of embodied energy. This is equivalent to the pollution created by five years’ worth of driving by 1.8 million cars in the US. With Solio, whenever you get a new device, you just swap out a small tip rather than get new chargers. In a small but tangible way, Solio frees you from the grid, reduces your footprint, and says something optimistic about the future.”

But it’s not just products that occupy Daniel’s thoughts. Currently in Africa on a number of top-secret projects focused on developing clean, economical technology for rural Africans without an electricity supply, he’s clearly keen to spread the word.

“A couple of weeks ago I donated our new Solio Hybrid 1000 to several Village Phone Operators in Uganda,” he says. “These are micro-business people in rural areas with no electricity that sell talk time on mobile phones to people in their communities. They mostly use car batteries to charge their phones, or, if they don’t have a car battery, they have to pay someone else to charge their phone. With a cell phone, a farmer can find out the true price of corn, for example, to better negotiate with middlemen; a mother can call a hospital to make sure it’s open before walking 10 hours to get there; and a park ranger can call for back-up to confront poachers in a preserve. I’ll never forget when I presented Solio to one Operator who is also a school teacher trying his best to provide for his family with less than five dollars a day. ‘You say I don’t have to walk half-a-day to Kiboga for a charge?!’ He hugged me and I could only laugh. It was great.”

The ‘Million Points of Light’ project, which will see Daniel taking low-energy LED technology to Africa, is the next big thing for Better Energy Systems. With other products in the pipeline and enthusiasm in abundance, the future certainly looks bright for the company – and for the communities that benefit from its work.

“Not only do we want our products to be a part of the solution, we want our business model to strengthen and contribute to a new economy,” says Daniel. “This means making business decisions based on social, ecological and economic grounds. We are starting to see big businesses and governments factoring ecology into the equation. This is a very exciting time. As Al Gore pointed out, the climate crisis is a tremendous opportunity for business. So, our long-term vision is to leverage our business and our customers to contribute to a sustainable economy.”

The Solio retails in the UK for around £50. To get hold of one, click here.

For more on Better Energy Systems, click here.