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Literally Brilliant Re-Use of Materials: Discarded Plastic Bottles Bring "A Liter of Light"

By Rain Noe - September 16, 2011

in Sustainable Design

Outside of metropolitan Manila in the Philippines, there are an astonishing 3 million households living without adequate power and electric lighting. A nonprofit called the MyShelter Foundation, working in conjunction with MIT students, has an ingenious program in place to bring free light to these areas:

Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Liter of Light), is a sustainable lighting project which aims to bring the eco-friendly Solar Bottle Bulb to disprivileged communities nationwide. Designed and developed by students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Solar Bottle Bulb is based on the principles of Appropriate Technologies—a concept that provides simple and easily replicable technologies that address basic needs in developing communities.

The video says it all, and you'll be surprised at how bright the "bulb" is. (And if you're wondering what the bleach is for—I initially thought it might have phosphorescent properties—it's to prevent algae from forming and clouding the "bulb.")

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Estelle Page

12 years ago

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Really enjoyed the post. I have also looked into reflecting light through water and found a great blog post on the Liter of Light http://www.eurocell.co.uk/9/news/post/1178/a-liter-of-light-bringing-light-to-the-poor-with-bottles-and-water
which has some great pictures and a video showing the difference they are making to these peoples lives.

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gmoke

13 years ago

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This is actually an invention by Alfredo Moser from Brazil. He began using this technique in 2002. I suspect that the MIT connection for the Philippines group is more advertising than reality but it's still a great idea.

This is only one of the interesting solar things you can do with a plastic bottle. Here's something I wrote which includes some of the other possibilities: http://solarray.blogspot.com/2011/09/trash-technology-and-recycled-solar.html
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JunkkMale

13 years ago

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Most impressed, especially as no reports of leaks, which would have been my main concern.
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