Let there be light, via Pet bottles

In a particularly poignant scene in Swades, an ingenious plan hatched by Shah Rukh Khan, the film’s protagonist, sees a house being lit for the first time. In the scene, an old woman’s wrinkled face is lit up both by the bulb, and by the astonishment at experiencing electricity for the first time.  A group of Bangaloreans are trying to bring that ‘Swades’ moment into lives of many urban poor, through an initiative called Liter of Light, armed with just some plastic bottles.   

The philosophy on which the initiative was founded is simple: convert sunlight into electricity, thus lighting up ill-lit homes.  The group first collects Pet bottles (coke, soda), and fills them with three parts of water and one part liquid detergent, so that water doesn’t get contaminated. The bottles are then covered with transparent sheets. A hole is made in the roof of a house, usually asbestos, and the bottle is fitted in with the help of industrial glue.  The bottle refracts sunlight, and is as good as a 55 Watt light bulb.

International beginnings:  

Alfredo Moser, a Brazilian, pioneered the idea of using plastic bottles as a source of light in 2002. The model was then implemented in Philippines. Slowly, this cheap and resourceful project found takers in many cities around the world. The goal of LOL is to light up one million homes by end of 2015, and the Bangalore chapter is playing an important role in achieving this goal.   

The level of electricity penetration in India is found wanting. According to a Wikipedia entry, India accounts for 300 million of the 1.4 billion people, who do not have access to electricity. The Bangalore chapter aims to bridge at least a small portion of that divide. 

In the absence of conventional forms of electricity, the group decided to make use of natural sources of light. In 2013, the Swiss Chapter of LOL visited Bangalore.  Soon after, the Bangalore Chapter, co- founded by Tripti Agarwal, got to work. 

Humble beginnings and challenges:

 With the help of an NGO, the group managed to install five bottles in LR Nagar, near Ejipura. Speaking about the initiative, Pankaj Dixit, a life coach and one of the active members of LOL says, “We went to five households to fit the bottles. After few months we surveyed the area again and found that residents were really happy with the initiative.”  

After LR Nagar, the group also installed similar bottles in 21 other homes in Nagerhalli and Banashankari. One of the most gratifying projects for the group was installing of bottles in a government school in Banashankari.  “The classrooms were dark, but we managed to improve the lighting with the help of the bottles. That felt nice,” says Dixit.  

In spite of the good work, Dixit feels that the group has miles to go before they sleep. “The work has been slow and our biggest roadblocks are manpower and lack of funds. We are currently dependent on volunteers from NGOs like ‘I volunteer’, students, and colleagues of our friends, among others,” says Dixit.

“We would also like to scale up the project, but funding is an issue. The industrial glue that holds the bottle to the roof, making sure that it doesn’t fall down, is expensive. Presently it is being sponsored by company called Sika.  We want to improve in such a way that the bottles can light up homes in the night as well. For that we need to invest in solar panels. We are also speaking to some engineering colleges to help us with research and development, so that we can work not only on asbestos roofs, but also tile roofs, and others,” he adds.  

This story was first published here