Is this the – Ultimate Eco friendly Lighting System…?
It’s often said: ‘Some of the greatest ideas are the simplest’, and this one falls into that bracket, this must be the ultimate eco friendly lighting system ever conceived.
Make sure you click here to like > Daily Green Post on Facebook < to be updated every time we find new tips on helping the environment, plus exciting and innovative new ways to help you and your family.
Alfredo Moser: Bottle light inventor proud to be poor
By Gibby Zobel
BBC World Service, Uberaba, BrazilAlfredo Moser’s invention is lighting up the world.
In 2002, the Brazilian mechanic had a light-bulb moment and came up with a way of illuminating his house during the day without electricity – using nothing more than plastic bottles filled with water and a tiny bit of bleach.
In the last two years his innovation has spread throughout the world. It is expected to be in one million homes by early next year.
Wrapping his face in a cloth he makes a hole in a roof tile with a drill. Then, from the bottom upwards, he pushes the bottle into the newly-made hole.
“You fix the bottle in with polyester resin. Even when it rains, the roof never leaks – not one drop.”
The lamps work best with a black cap – a film case can also be used “An engineer came and measured the light,” he says. “It depends on how strong the sun is but it’s more or less 40 to 60 watts,” he says.
Moser has installed the bottle lamps in neighbors’ houses and the local supermarket.
While he does earn a few dollars installing them, it’s obvious from his simple house and his 1974 car that his invention hasn’t made him wealthy. What it has given him is a great sense of pride.
How much energy do the lamps save?
The plastic bottles are up-cycled in the local community, so no energy is needed to gather, shred, manufacture and ship new bottles.
The carbon footprint of the manufacture of one incandescent bulb is 0.45kg CO2
A 50 Watt light bulb running for 14 hours a day for a year has a carbon footprint of nearly 200kg CO2
Moser lamps emit no CO2
Source: UN
The idea has also caught on in about 15 other countries, from India and Bangladesh, to Tanzania, Argentina and Fiji.
Did Moser himself imagine that his invention would have such an impact?
“I’d have never imagined it, No,” says Moser, shaking with emotion.
“It gives you goose-bumps to think about it.”
Full article at… BBC/news/magazine
Make sure you click here to like > Daily Green Post on Facebook < to be updated every time we find new tips on helping the environment, plus exciting and innovative new ways to help you and your family.