Edward Lao, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation/01/26/012616_still1.jpg"/></figure></div>LONDON -A Filipino social entrepreneur-led project, which has already lit up hundreds of thousands of impoverished homes around the world, was recently featured as art installation during London&#x27;s Lumiere festival.Illac Angelo Diaz&#x27;s &#x27;Liter of Light&#x27; exhibit, which transformed 5,000 recycled plastic bottles into solar light bulbs, was among the 30 displays that shone across various parts of the United Kingdom’s capital from January 14 to 17.Thousands of people poured through the two indoor tunnels located in Central Saint Martins, King&#x27;s Cross, which were illuminated by designs formed by one-liter bottles containing water and bleach.Designed by artist Mick Stephenson, the Liter of Light piece was created alongside the art students of Central Saint Martins.&quot;This is really working with the children of King&#x27;s Cross to actually contribute their bottles, their waste bottles, and making it into an art exhibit,&quot; Diaz told ABS-CBN Europe.&quot;There are some areas here where the lighting is also built by children by hand. So the same way that we do it in the villages in the Philippines and around the world is the same way that we say every kid can be a solar engineer,&quot; he added.<div>Liter of Light</div>The brainchild of Brazilian Alfredo Moser in 2002, a solar bottle produces up to 60 Watts and works by refracting sunbeams through a water-filled plastic bottle containing two capfuls of bleach - to prevent algal growth - that has been placed through a thin roof.MyShelter Foundation, of which Diaz is executive director, developed the concept before introducing Liter of Light to poor communities in Manila in 2011.After Typhoon Yolanda (International name: Haiyan) devastated the Philippines in 2013, leaving thousands without immediate access to power or electricity, Liter of Light showed locals how they could help themselves in a cheap, safe, simple, and ecologically sustainable way.&quot;It usually takes about five months for a big amount of solar to reach the country. You can&#x27;t just call China or India and say, &#x27;Look, I want 5,000 pieces.&#x27; They&#x27;ll say, &#x27;I&#x27;m sorry, we have a production order and it&#x27;s going to take five months to happen, then two months to clear customs,&#x27;&quot; Diaz explained.&quot;It takes too much time and we noticed - because of our experience with so much disasters - it&#x27;s 70 percent of the cost, it&#x27;s all on shipping. So by the time it reaches the country so little is left. So we were thinking, why not in a disaster create a system whereby the people themselves build the light?&quot;So we opened up a lot of solar lamps and we realized that these things are so easy to do, but in a very unique, unique way. And that&#x27;s how Liter of Light happened. Local skill, local livelihood, sustainable energy,&quot; he added.Around 160,000 households in the Philippines currently use solar bottles, which are said to last up to five years if properly built.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/nation/01/26/012616_still2.jpg"/></figure></div><div>Shining a light on solar</div>Through a course, the Liter of Light project teaches people how to build solar cells and lights from locally sourced electronic waste, such as cell phone batteries, with the aid of a game-like teaching tool.&quot;We taught them step-by-step what is a solar light. Usually it&#x27;s patented, expensive, imported. Nobody wants to teach you what is in that magic box. We are trying to say, &#x27;Look, solar can be local,&#x27;&quot; Diaz said.Diaz said the Liter of Light project is the world&#x27;s cheapest solar lighting movement.&quot;Our message, really, is that the community is important. If you really want to help the developing world you have to give the technology, and in fact, you have to risk making yourself obsolete. Many NGOs are really fearful of that. Why would you do something that would make your job obsolete?The solar bottle is now being used in over 650,000 households across more than 20 countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Uganda and Zambia, while there are also European bases in France and Italy.&quot;The big difference that I saw working with Illac&#x27;s project is really the fact that the people learn how to help themselves,” said Luca Bücken, a Netherlands-based German student who has worked for a number of NGOs in the Philippines including Liter of Light.&quot;They don&#x27;t actually get money, they don&#x27;t receive food, but they receive knowledge,&quot; he added.<div>Light of the future</div>Earlier this month, Liter of Light was awarded the United Arab Emirates 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize in Abu Dhabi.Despite the growing awareness, Diaz acknowledges there is plenty of work to be done to reach the 20 million more Filipinos, and over one billion others around the globe.Teaching children how to use these technologies is also a key long-term focus of the Liter of Light project.&quot;We believe that one of them, or a few of them, are going to be able to invent something that will be able to change energy poverty for the next generation,” Diaz said.“So we don&#x27;t believe Liter of Light is the solution, but Liter of Light can inspire a whole generation to defeat energy poverty with innovations that we might not even have conceived,&quot; he added.

LONDON -A Filipino social entrepreneur-led project, which has already lit up hundreds of thousands of impoverished homes around the world, recently featured as art installation during London's Lumiere festival.

Pinoy's solar bottles featured in London's Lumiere festival

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Pinoy's solar bottles featured in London's Lumiere festival

Edward Lao,

ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

Published Jan 26, 2016 01:05 PM PHT

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Updated Jan 26, 2016 07:40 PM PHT

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