Plastic bottles jammed through circular holes in the metal rooftops of a Manila slum neighborhood bring light into dim and dreary shanties, thanks to a project called A Liter of Light.
The 1-liter bottles, which contain bleach and water, are placed snugly into the hole, utilizing the simplest of technologies to brighten communities without electricity.
Designed and developed by students from MIT, the Solar Bottle Bulbs reflect sunlight and disperse it throughout the room beneath.
The bottle inserted halfway through the hole emits light equivalent to a 55-watt electric bulb as the water inside refracts the exterior light.
According to statistics from the National Electrification Commission in 2009, 3 million households still remain powerless in the outskirts of the Philippine capitol.
The MyShelter Foundation was established by a young Filipino entrepreneur, Illac Diaz, to create employment-generating projects using sustainable technologies to better the lives of the underprivileged there.
More than 10,000 of the bottle lights have been installed across metropolitan Manila and the nearby province of Laguna in the last three months through the efforts of low income communities, local governments and 200 volunteers.
With the island nation dependent on fossil fuel and coal for most of its energy needs, the Philippines government is making a push for renewable energy, the Reuters news agency reports.
“Unlike a hole in which the light will travel in a straight line, the water will refract it to go vertical, horizontal, 360 degrees of 55 watts to 60 watts of clear light, almost ten months of the year,” Diaz said.
Donate to help the MyShelter Foundation to light up a million homes nationwide by 2012, using the innovative solar bottle bulb.
(READ the report from Reuters, or WATCH the video from Manila below…)