Thursday, June 21, 2012

DIY: Solar Bottle Tubes


For the last 2 months, we've been rocking our brains out how to lower our electric bills.  For some reason, it doubled over summer!  Anyway,  for DIY day, how about an experiment?

I recently heard about 1 Liter of Light in the office. It's an ingenious idea crafted at Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) in 1996, then adopted in the Philippines by MyShelter Foundation early this year.  The use of the Solar Bottle Tubes in dark rooms during the day promises enormous savings in electric bills.  Ok, this is promising... a little extreme for some, but may be a good thought as an alternative for daylight roofs in the storage garage or dirty kitchen, or perhaps a project for the children when introducing science & environment.


All you need for the device is a used plastic bottle (preferably 1.5liter soda bottle with cap); purified water; chlorine; salt & rubber sealant.  Fill the bottle with water, 3 bottle caps of chlorine & a pinch of salt, then seal with rubber sealant.  The water refracts the light, while the chlorine & salt slow down evaporation & prevent growth of molds.  The solution is expected to last up to 2 years before you need to change it.  Not bad!


Ohh, I can't wait to try this with our children in church.  Let there be light!

Ohhthat! by Tin

P.S.  Should you wish to support MyShelter Foundation or know more about the project, please visit their website:  IsangLitrongLiwanag.org.  MyShelter Foundation aims to brighten up one million homes in the Philippines and around the world by the end 2012. And, with our help, four million homes on four continents by the end of 2013.  All photos & videos are from IsangLitrongLiwanag.org

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15 comments:

  1. Same problem I have at home! Electric bill's killing me! I actually read the entire post and I said to my self "I've got to try this." No harm if we'll do right?

    I love your blog. You're an inspiration. :-)

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  2. Aww, thanks!

    I'm also starting to wonder if people really read my blog or just scan through the photos. never the less, thank you for dropping by.

    on the light bottle, the materials are so cheap/ readily available - no harm done if we try it, right? pls let me know how your diy turns out. :)

    tin

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  3. Actually, Jem Ferrer (daughter of Jeg, our Pastor in Bukidnon) is managing the Manila office of this solar bottle system. Good stuff, we should try it.

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  4. @Jimmy: Tito you have a new blog (again)?! Yes, let's do this soon! :D

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  5. Ohh, that!
    Electric bill is insane! So I wanna try creating this one too.
    :D

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  6. The increase of electric per kw sucks us up to 2,000 per month bill. This is a brilliant idea. Hope that we could to this at home with ceiling boards. I think this one is only applicable to open ceiling type of roofing system. Thanks for sharing it.

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  7. That will definitely help in reducing electricity bills. Even if I wanted to install one, the owner of my apartment might be permit it. :-)

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  8. I've watched about this long time ago at QTv , environment friendly, I really wanted to try but got no time. I wish sooner I can make one!

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  9. Cool idea! This was featured in tv months ago and this is very smart. Kudos to the people behind this ingenuity.

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  10. Very innovative. I remember posting this on my advocacy blog, too.

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  11. My father mentioned this DIY project a long time ago. Thanks for the video link, now I understand the concept well.

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  12. I was able to watch this on a TV show, forgot if its at 7 or 2. this is really a good idea.

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  13. We're doing this as a class project in school! After learning about our impact to our environment and the people in our community, we started collecting, creating, and actually installing solar bottles in one of the communities in Cebu! Very easy to volunteer -- visit their website -- and help bring light to other families :-) We need to conserve energy, we only have one earth :-)

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  14. will definitely try this at our cr. :)

    ~corbylove

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Thank you for sharing your "Ohh, that!" thought/s. :)