How Open Source Low Tech Lighting Is Changing The World
As tech enthusiasts we have an innate love for anything electronic: that new super thin smart phone, ultra fast fiber optic broadband, futuristic gadgets and gizmos that can fit into a jacket pocket. But living in the digital age often makes us neglect the more natural innovations. Technology that doesn't require wires made of glass, silicon chips, or screen resolutions so crisp and clear the human eye can barely process the difference. Sometimes the most important innovations are created from the things we all take for granted; such as waste.
The Internet of Lights is the newest tech trend to hit the lighting industry, and it's pretty darn amazing! There are now light bulbs that can amend their color and hue to suit your mood, or adapt their strength automatically depending on the available exterior light. However, lest not forget, not all of us have the simple luxury of light – and it really is a luxury! The are millions of people throughout the world who don't have access to this everyday commodity. When a bulb dies, we simply screw in a new one and hey presto, the problem is sorted.
The Liter of Light is responsible for one of the most important lighting innovations of our generation, a technology that turns a simple plastic bottle into a 40-60 watt lightbulb that can illuminate a 40 square foot room, yet very few have heard of it. The technology itself was developed by a Brazilian named Alfredo Moser; however, it was popularized by Illac Diaz of the MyShelter Foundation in 2011. Illac not only sought out to solve the problem of lack of electricity Philippine slums, but to also provide local people with an income. Within months of bringing the bottle bulb to the Philippines, over 20 cities and 15,000 solar bulbs were installed.
Since 2011 MyShelter has expanded significantly – surpassing their initial goal of lighting up one million homes by 2015 – and now operate in more than 20 different countries. Pepsi have even partnered with the Liter of Light to provide sponsorship funding and a global platform to raise awareness.
The construction process revolves around cutting a circular hole in a sheet of corrugated metal, slotting in an empty one to two liter clear plastic bottle (yes, the kind we throw away!), filling it with water and bleach (to prevent algae buildup), and sealing it into place. The whole process takes around thirty minutes, yet it can provide lighting for three to five years – if you want to give it a try, watch this YouTube video. The real beauty of the Liter of Light technology is that it's an open source design. Since its inception it has constantly been adapted and upgraded by ordinary people like you and I, not the techno geniuses lurking beneath Apple Campus or Googleplex, just everyday average Joe's who are learning on the fly.
While we may not have much use for bottle lights in the Western world, sometimes it's good to take a step back and go back to basics. With the onset of climate change, we need campaigns like the Liter of Light to remind us just how big of a difference natural resources and proper waste control can make, not just to local economies, but to carbon emissions. While we're hardly going to replace our glass skylights and electric bulbs with Pepsi bottles, there are plenty of green solutions available.
The Google definition of technology is "the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry." While bottle bulbs may not be as complex as the latest Internet of lighting technology, they're certainly more important. With over one million bulbs having been installed in over 20 different countries throughout the world, the smallest, cheapest and simplest lighting technology of the last decade has certainly made the biggest difference in the fight against light poverty.
