This autumn is so exciting that we didn’t get any chance to blog and share a bit more with you guys!! Some of our GoSol-team came together in Switzerland. This was a good chance to plan our next steps and cook solar meals all together, and also it was a great opportunity to present GoSol next projects and the Lytefire solar concentrator to Switzerland!
Will Cleaver and Lorin Symington spent long days at the workshop at the Rosegghof (our Swiss Headquarters in Solothurn). The result was a brand new, bright version of our solar concentrator, the Lytefire, and a hybrid solar roaster/oven! And the best way to explain how the Lytefire works is to show it!
That is exactly what we did at our “Experience Event” at the Rosegghof. With about 25 guests we enjoyed pizza together, drank coffee and tea, and distilled essential oil of rosemary to produce our own deodorant and scents – all of it only with solar energy from our Lytefire! A few weeks after, early October, we did another event focused on baking and the result was a-ma-zing! We can tell you, that a solar baked “Hefezopf” (a Swiss kind of sweet bread) is really delicious!
And pastry chef Linda Gutknecht from Linda’s Art in Solothurn produced some solar cupcakes and got really excited about solar baking saying that "it’s even better than her electric oven", so there will be more Solothurner solar baking in the near future for sure.
Our partner Beto Borges from Forest Trends also joined us in Solothurn for an evening presentation. Beto presented our work in the Amazon, and talked about the importance of forest stewardship, and how a solution like GoSol approach can enhance the stewardship of communities in the Amazon forest by helping to sustainable add value to non timber forest products.
Lorin Symington spoke about the philosophy and history of GoSol, and shared his experience building solar concentrators in the Philippines and East Africa. Kurt Bauman, vocational teacher and early adopter of our solar concentrator, was also here to share his user experience since 2015 and present our educational training.
Urs Riggenbach then showed the next steps that are planned, and how to get involved with GoSol. The event ended with fruitful conversations with our guests while enjoying a nice glass of wine.
Even though autumn in Solothurn is best known for heavy fog, we had some amazing luck: at the HESO 2019 we could show off our Lytefire with perfect blue sky! Read on here about how we fried delicious veggie-burgers, pan-roasted almonds, and produced our first Solothurner solar roasted coffee beans.
Next step: the GoSol Impact Event in Zürich the 14th of November 2019. We would love to meet you and meet the impact investors that will scale up with you. Check it out here!
