A Liter of Light is a sustainable lighting project which aims to bring the eco-friendly Solar Bottle Light to underprivileged communities worldwide. MyShelter Foundation, in conjunction with the Development Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has created solar bottle bulbs made of recycled plastic soda bottles that can illuminate a forty-square meter room brighter than a fluorescent lamp by at least 55 to 60 watts. A Liter of Light seeks to provide low-income communities with a cheap, sustainable energy source that frees up significant amounts of their disposable income for other necessities. But it also uses the power of social entrepreneurship to enable small business owners to generate revenue through the production and distribution of solar bottle bulbs. A Liter of Light has even created a “waste-to-wealth” program that trains grassroots entrepreneurs to market and produce solar bulbs, an initiative they hope to employ in their expansion along with their outreach and volunteer projects.
By creating an open-sourced, appropriate technology and marketing it through social networks and online training, the MyShelter Foundation aims to broaden its impact from local activities in the Philippines to other under-privileged communities in South America and Africa. The initiative’s desire and willingness to make this technology available to other entrepreneurs around the world encourages others to scale up their programs in their own communities.
A Liter of Light has brought light to over 200,000 homes in the Philippines. They expect to hit the one million mark by the end of 2012. By bringing awareness to the worldwide solar power movement and helping families across the world consolidate their electricity expenses, A Liter of Light program truly provides an innovative and eco-friendly solution.
