By RYEN OLIVIA BABBS, age 8
Bottle lights are made by filling a recycled bottle with water and adding two spoonfuls of bleach to prevent algae from growing. PHOTO: joimson
Alfredo Moser lights up the darkness in the world. Moser invented a source of light that helps people who do not have electricity. In 2002, the inventor created bottle lights to help illuminate his home in Brazil during one of the country’s many blackouts. BBC News estimates that by early 2014, at least one million poor people around the world are expected to be using bottle lights.
Bottle lights are made by filling a recycled bottle with water and adding two spoonfuls of bleach to prevent algae from growing. The bottles are then installed into house roofs, and when the sun strikes the bottles, the water inside lights up a room.
Moser’s bottle lights may help reduce the need to hook up to illegal electricity, minimizing fires and electrocution. PHOTO: Jen Leung
Moser’s invention is already helping people in countries like Bangladesh, Argentina and Fiji. Some groups around the world, such as the MyShelter Foundation in the Philippines, help people earn money by training them to install bottle lights in homes. According to Angelo Diaz, executive director of MyShelter, “Alfredo Moser has changed the lives of a tremendous number of people, I think forever.”
In places like Bangladesh and the Philippines, some people use illegal electricity because electricity is expensive. Others use candles and lamps, which can cause fires, since electrical connectors are not installed where they live. Bottle lights are not only legal, but also safe.
Most important, bottle lights help the poor to save money. Moser told the Latin Times, “There was one man who installed the lights and within a month he had saved enough to pay for the essential things for his child, who was about to be born. Can you imagine?”
