KinoSol creates solar-powered food dehydrators. Without using any electrical inputs, KinoSol reduces food waste at the household level.
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$1,031
This project will only be funded if at least $10,000 is pledged by .
About this project
WHAT IS A KINOSOL DEHYDRATOR?
KinoSol units are solar-powered food dehydrators, created to reduce food waste around the world. Currently, KinoSol offers International dehydrator units, available to farmers in developing countries. While working on the international unit, the team realized that food waste in the U.S. was just as big of a problem as it is in developing countries. Every year, 222 million tons of food goes to waste, totaling over 700 billion U.S. dollars. This is why the KinoSol team has started research and development of a domestic KinoSol unit. We know the community support on Kickstarter is the best in the world, so we’re launching our campaign to raise additional funding to further the R&D stage of a domestic KinoSol unit. The domestic KinoSol unit is a sustainable alternative for those in urban environments within the United States, Western Europe, and other areas, to decrease their consumer food waste (ie. throwing out those slightly brown bananas).
HOW A KINOSOL DEHYDRATOR CAN BENEFIT YOUR LIFE
HOW OUR DEHYDRATOR FUNCTIONS
KinoSol Units utilize a natural convection system and rely on the sun’s energy, instead of electrical inputs, to dehydrate produce. Through utilizing the sun’s UV rays and ventilation, KinoSol units are able to effectively and efficiently dehydrate the produce you otherwise would have thrown away. And a lot of the nutrient content is preserved!
Units can be placed outside on your balcony, porch, deck, rooftop, or in your yard, filled with sliced fruit or vegetables. After dehydrating, you can enjoy a healthy and nutritious snack, or save it for later!
NATURAL CONVECTION SYSTEM
WHAT SETS US APART?
Our journey began in September of 2014, with a global business plan competition centered around how to feed the world’s growing population. The team wanted to focus on the food that is already produced but goes to waste, instead of trying to increase agricultural production. We started by researching solutions and prototyping a food dehydrator--8 prototypes to be exact--that would be ideal for families in developing countries. In September of 2015, KinoSol incorporated as a Specific Benefit Corporation in Minnesota, headquartered in Iowa. We’re happy to be held accountable and bound by our primary mission of decreasing food waste on a global scale.
A domestic KinoSol unit will allow us to make greater strides toward fulfilling our mission. The team’s hope is that as food waste in the US is decreased through consumers dehydrating food they would typically throw out, farmers in developing countries can continue to efficiently dehydrate their produce as well, as domestic units will help subsidize international unit costs.
COMMUNITIES USING OUR INTERNATIONAL DEHYDRATOR
MEET THE TEAM
The KinoSol team (pictured above, L-R, Clayton Mooney, Elise Kendall, Mikayla Sullivan, and Ella Gehrke) is driven by a social good purpose to help those lacking basic necessities in life. All 4 founders have traveled extensively, have higher education within development, and understand the importance of local economies needing to grow, as handout methods will not result in sustainability. We’re humbled by the opportunity to address global problems.
Clayton Mooney
Clayton's inspiration comes from his many travels around the world. Those travels have helped him create lifelong friendships, appreciate different cultures, and to better understand the world's issues with an open-minded approach. He’s always up for new adventures, and solving big problems.
KinoSol has allowed Clayton to creatively address and solve problems for those in developing countries. Clayton leads written content and sharing KinoSol’s story to audiences around the world. He also focuses on future KinoSol unit research and development, as well as helping stakeholders and partners to understand KinoSol’s mission, strategies, and vision.
Elise Kendall
Elise was raised in Minnesota and grew up dreaming of traveling the world. A love for other cultures and the desire to see a change in global inequalities pushed her to pursue a career in international development. Traveling to Asia opened her eyes to the poverty millions face around the world, inspiring her to make a change. She plans to spend her life sustaining livelihoods and the environment around the globe.
KinoSol has combined Elise’s passion for development with her strong sense of design. From a young age, Elise has had a love for all things artistic, and she applies this talent to develop KinoSol's aesthetic. Elise leads visual and branding, including the creative vision for products, website design, and marketing campaigns.
Mikayla Sullivan
Mikayla's passion comes from her first-hand experience seeing what poverty truly means, while she visited rural villages in Mexico. Since that day, she has been inspired to learn as much as she can to help improve rural development and living standards around the world. Years of traveling and learning from other cultures have allowed her to understand various perspectives, and to create valuable and beneficial solutions for everyone.
KinoSol has allowed Mikayla to turn her dream of providing sustainable solutions to people in need, into a reality. Mikayla’s strong work ethic and determination to succeed helps her to lead day-to-day operations, ensuring new partnerships are sought out, testing and production progresses, and business growth is efficient and sustainable.
Ella Gehrke
Ella’s passion comes from her time spent in El Salvador and India. During those travels, Ella gained insight on poverty and malnutrition that many her age lack. She became inspired to focus on global health; more specifically, women’s health in the developing world, after first-hand experiences witnessing stunting and malnutrition.
KinoSol has provided Ella with a tangible solution to the problems she has heard about in class and witnessed during her travels. Ella’s leadership skills and work ethic help to establish partnerships that allow KinoSol to grow efficiently. She also leads outreach and public relations, helping educate audiences on global malnutrition and health.
HOW WE WILL USE THE FUNDING
Funding from this campaign will help us to continue prototyping our domestic KinoSol unit, to conduct various tests on efficiency, and to test nutritional content of the dehydrated food. We want the units to look great, and your dehydrated snacks to taste great.
STRETCH GOAL If we reach our stretch goal of $20,000, we’ll be able to prototype and test much more efficiently. Each backer who pledged $25 or more will have a say in determining what one of the walls in our future office looks like. A full mural, dedicated to you, for helping bring our domestic KinoSol unit to life!
STRETCH GOAL The wall could be a permanent fixture, but we’re willing to make one other permanent move if you help us reach our stretch goal of $30,000. If we reach this goal, all four KinoSol founders will be off to get matching mango tattoos! And of course we’ll be able to continue prototyping and testing much more efficiently, as well as looking into other injection molding options for our future domestic KinoSol units.
PROJECT TIMELINE
PLEDGE LEVELS
Risks and challenges
While we're well into prototyping a KinoSol unit just for you, supplies, funding, and manufacturing capabilities all play a big part in bringing out next KinoSol unit to life. We can't control every timeline.
That said, we're very optimistic about our timelines in fulfilling all of our pledge levels and backer rewards!
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